Uncommon Vows
by Secret Space Mouse
Summary: Defender of the Universe-centric AU, vintage Fanfic, written in 2000.
1. Prologue

Uncommon Vows

by Yoshi

SPOILERS.

A few Classic Voltron episodes are mentioned in passing. I have chosen, for the purpose of the storyline, to ignore a few choice scenes. For example, Allura has NEVER gone swimming with the boys. You'll find out why as the storyline unfolds…

There are no V3D spoilers. They don't show Voltron the 3rd Dimension where I live (*sniff*) even though they sell the toys already. This means that, for all intents and purposes, V3D never happened. There's nothing like sour grapes to drive a plot line! ;-b

RATING.

Let's rate this M to be safe. Earlier chapters may acceptable for younger audiences but it gets darker. . As an avid reader of romance novels though, I refuse to rate this for mushiness. Be warned.

DISCLAIMERS.

Standard disclaimers, whatever they are, apply. These characters aren't mine (although I wish they were) but belong to WEP. (May they live long and prosper.) I gain nothing but the personal satisfaction and a sense of closure. The legend lives on.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

Before anything else, I'd like to thank my family and friends - most of whom know NOTHING about what I'm doing in front of a computer at all the hours of the night (and sometimes day too!)

The KAEX passengers - my cyber friends - Rachel, Rayne, CBJam, Rosemary, Melissa, Claire, Chani, Moe, Cynthia, Debbie, Kestrel, Gina, Alexis, and everyone else I may have forgotten to mention - you all get a hefty serving of my gratitude. Lionesse, the world would have less Voltron Fics if you hadn't started the train.

A large chunk of this work also belongs to Snoopy, my wonderful editor. Snoopy, I really appreciate everything you've done. Your thoughtful insights made a world of difference to the story!

Oh, and Indy? UVW too.

Prologue

"When the gods created humans, they were joined in pairs occupying one body. However, the humans displeased the gods, the gods decreed that as punishment, the pairs would be separated. They were condemned to spend eternity searching for the one person that made them complete."

Allura slammed her book shut. She pointedly ignored the disapproving frown on Coran's face and snorted in disgust at what she had just read. "Why do you make me read such rubbish, Coran? Can you imagine that—that a part of me is missing? If something was missing from me, I think I would know it!"

Coran stroked his mustache and prayed for patience, "Your Highness, myths explain concepts that would otherwise be unexplainable to more primitive cultures. This myth explains why men and women are on a constant quest for completion, to find the one person needed to make their lives complete."

Allura's brows arched skyward. "My life IS complete, Coran. I have you, Nanny, my parents and the Space Mice! What more do I need?"

Coran tried to hide the smile twitching on his lips. How demoralizing. While his titles of Duke of Wenselan and Special Advisor to His Majesty, Alfor of Arus were more than enough to impress most people, apparently, it meant nothing to the young princess. In her eyes, he was less important than her pet space mice.

"Well, once you get older and become Queen of Arus, you will need a husband to protect Arus from all harm," Coran explained, wishing the patience and fortitude of the saints for that man, whoever he may be.

"But I will NOT need a husband to protect Arus," Allura snapped back. "Aunt Orla is the Queen of Cador and she has protected it on her own without EVER having to marry. Why should I marry?"

Coran was at a loss for words. How could he explain how difficult the road Queen Orla had chosen to take? Sacrifice was a concept that Allura understood only vaguely. She had never had to make any real sacrifices over the course of her young years.

He welcomed the distraction of the door opening with great relief. Getting to his feet, he welcomed the Queen with a courtly bow as Juliana entered the schoolroom. While it was part of the Queen's normal routine to visit the schoolroom to check on the progress of her daughter, she normally came alone.

She was not alone today.

Juliana turned to her husband with dancing eyes and motioned towards the middle of the room where Allura was glaring at Coran. "Perhaps you should stop them before they come to blows. I wouldn't put it past YOUR daughter to do something like that."

"That's because she takes after her mother." Alfor smiled teasingly at Juliana, with deviltry shining in his hazel eyes but he scooped up his daughter in his arms, before she could begin to greet them with a curtsey.

"Father!" Allura squealed with delight as Alfor tossed her into the air. Always one to show her affection, she planted noisy kisses on the king's cheeks and settled down in his arms trustingly.

Alfor glanced at Coran; reading in his carefully controlled features the exasperation that the Duke of Wenselan was too well bred to display. The king looked back at his daughter. "I take it that you and Coran have had another polite disagreement?"

A relieved smile lit up Allura's face. She could always count on her father to provide a reasonable explanation to the all the questions she had. "Father, why do I need to marry? I don't need someone to take care of Arus, I can do that by myself!"

Alfor swallowed the burst of laughter that threatened to erupt, conscious of his daughter's prickly pride. "You can take care of Arus yourself, Little One, but who's going to take care of you?"

"You and Mother, Coran and Nanny!"

"But we won't be around forever," Alfor explained to his puzzled daughter. "And if we aren't around, we want someone to care for you. You need someone to care for you because you're you, not because of your looks or because you're Princess Royal of Arus."

"Is it like that for you and Mother?" Allura asked her father. Her small forehead was furrowed in concentration and a golden eyebrow was arched skeptically.

"Yes, I fell in love with your mother when I first saw her," Alfor agreed, "I knew that she was the other half of my soul."

Coran bit his lip and allowed the brief sting of pain to prevent himself from laughing out loud. He could well remember how vehemently Alfor had refused to consider an arranged marriage to the very princess who was now the other half of his soul and how tumultuous the first year of their marriage had been.

The Queen was not as discreet. If he didn't know any better, Coran would have sworn that the sudden cough that escaped from Juliana's lips was an extremely earthy insult—had it not been for that fact that the Queen herself was the essence of graciousness and decorum.

"But Mother was a princess," Allura asked, pulling on her father's sleeve to catch his attention, "and you were a prince before you became the King. Will I have to marry a prince to become the Queen?"

Alfor reached out and captured his wife's hand with his own, pulling her into his embrace as well. "Maybe you should ask your mother that. Little One. SHE is the one who has the sight, you know."

Juliana arched her eyebrows regally and lifted her chin, from head to toe the image of a haughty young queen — an image that was dispelled by laughter in her sparkling eyes. "I am a Daughter of Cador, Alfor, not a carnival fortune teller, Alfor. My gift is not one that I can conjure up on demand."

"Really, Mother? Is that why I never see things like you do?" Allura's eyes lit up hopefully as she transferred to her mother's arms. "I only see red and black spots whenever I try to see things. I'm afraid I don't have talent like you and Father," she admitted with a defeated sigh.

Alfor smiled fondly at his daughter. He had known how special she was from the moment that he had first held her in his arms. Instead of squalling with displeasure, as most newborns would have, she had regarded him with otherworldly blue eyes.

Her birth marked the fulfillment of a prophecy that had been immortalized in legend, painting and song across the Far Universe. She had been born with the phoenix on her shoulder — the mark of the one who would cause the downfall of the Witch Haggar and end the death and destruction caused by her monstrous creations.

The little girl he held in his arms was destined to be greater than he could ever hope to be.

A dark shadow crossed his face as he thought of what Haggar would do if she found her. The prophecy was the only thing that the witch was afraid of and she would stop at nothing to protect her power...

Alfor didn't know whom to trust — so he chose to retire from the traditional whirl of social activity of Arussian court life — to raise his daughter in as much safety as he could provide.

He and Juliana surrounded their daughter with close and trusted friends and retainers, closely limiting her contact with the world outside the pale marble walls of the Castle of Lions and the watchful eyes of Haggar's magical informants.

Alfor smiled in grim satisfaction. Only two Arussians knew Allura's secret and they would die before letting the witch and the tyrant she served know that the child who they had sworn to kill was actually the pampered princess of Arus.

Rool Gorma had been Juliana's doctor during Allura's birth. The last of a long-line of healers and wise men, he knew the prophecy by heart, having learned of it at his grandfather's knee.

Coran was Alfor's most trusted advisor. The two men were actually distant cousins— as were most of the noble families of Arus—but there was there was a bond of friendship between them that went far beyond mere kinship.

Alfor knew that his wife's sister, Orla knew about Allura's birthmark. He didn't expect otherwise. The two sisters were twins and shared everything with each other.

Juliana had also added Betta to the cabal. The plump Cadorian woman had once been Juliana's handmaiden, but she now served as Allura's governess. It was a match made in heaven, Alfor mused. Betta was one of the only people who had enough personality to handle his spirited young daughter.

Feminine laughter penetrated his reverie and he smiled involuntarily. Despite his worry about the darkness of the times they lived in, his spirits lifted whenever he heard their musical laughter.

He regarded his daughter closely — trying to see a little bit of himself in her but he could not. Allura was the very image of her mother — she had Juliana's gentle smile, fragile blond beauty and amazing eyes.

He stifled a chuckle as he watched as his daughter practice the negotiation skills that she had perfected on him on her mother and winced guiltily, remembering all the times that he allowed Allura to have her way, even when he knew he ought not to.

Juliana often took him to task for encouraging Allura's headstrong behavior, but he couldn't help it — he could never resist his daughter when she approached him with her heart reflected in her eyes.

He discreetly hid a wide grin as he watched Juliana capitulate to their daughter's plea. He promised himself that he would tease his wife about it later, when they were alone in their chambers.

"You do not see things because you are trying to hard, Little One. Come, let us do this together. Close your eyes and concentrate, let the colors in your mind's eye swirl and allow the mist to lighten until you see clearly," Juliana explained patiently.

Allura closed her eyes and imitated her mother briefly before losing interest in the exercise. She opened her eyes and began a lively examination of the view visible from the schoolroom.

Oblivious to Allura's distraction, Juliana stood still for a long moment. When she finally opened her eyes, she hugged Allura close. "Choose your husband by his deeds, Little One. Always remember that there are princes of the blood and princes among men," she breathed quietly, looking over Allura's head, to meet her husband's hazel gaze.

Coran suddenly felt a jolt of alarm run through his body as he watched his queen— Juliana was deathly pale. He had known her long enough to know that she had seen something that disturbed her greatly.

He looked at Alfor and saw the same apprehension mirrored on his face for a brief moment before his friend immediately concealed it so as not to alarm the little princess in Juliana's arms.

Allura sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Mother, you didn't answer my question. The universe is full of people who are not princes. How will I know him when I meet him?"

Juliana tightened her grip on her daughter as Allura began to squirm and relished the warmth of the small body in her arms. "Your heart will know him. Besides, even if YOU don't know it, there will be others around you who will know him when they see him."

Allura nodded and began to fidget. For the moment at least, she had no further questions. She looked longingly at the door — the beauty of the day and the promise of adventures in the gardens with the Space Mice beckoned.

Alfor plucked Allura from Juliana's arms and caught Coran's eye, nodding towards the door. Coran nodded and cleared his throat to attract Allura's attention.

"Your Highness, I think we have done enough for the day. Now, I want you to continue reading your mythology book. Tomorrow, we will discuss the origins of the myths and how they satisfied curious minds like yours."

Allura's face lit up and her eyes sparkled in delight. This was perfect! She had been wondering how to convince Coran to set her free so that she could go outside and play hide and seek with the Space Mice. She squirmed in her father's arms until he set her down on the floor.

She was about to run from the room when Coran's disapproving frown reminded her of her manners. She smiled at him apologetically and curtsied prettily before her parents. "May I be excused, Your Majesties?"

Juliana nodded and gave her permission to leave, holding out her hand for Allura to kiss in the traditional Cadorian manner. She watched her daughter rise and skip out of the room, glad that Allura had not noticed her strange behaviour.

Alfor and Coran sprang into action as soon as the door closed behind the little princess. Coran grabbed a chair from the study table and ordered Juliana to sit on it, forcing her to do so when she ignored his command. Alfor knelt in front of her and tried to rub warmth into hands that had suddenly gone cold.

Juliana ignored their ministrations. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to regain control of herself before she was overwhelmed by the power of the vision that she had seen in her mind's eye.

Coran waited patiently, knowing that his queen was struggling to find words to describe what she had seen and that she would tell them what it was as soon as she made sense of it herself.

A chill ran down through his spine and he crossed himself instinctively as Juliana began to speak.

 _"Yellow eyes filled with lust_ _The guardian castle reduced to dust_ _Terror and despair rule supreme_ _Nothing stops the tyrant's regime_ _The Lion sounds, roaring out loud_ _Calling five, standing tall and proud_ _The phoenix flies to fill the breach_ _Peace, once hopeless, now within reach_ _A leader of men, a prince by blood_ _A princess as fair as a rosebud_ _Through death and life, they are entwined_ _Their destiny defined by a cosmic mastermind"_

Alfor cursed under his breath, "So it has begun."

Juliana nodded sadly, "Ready your troops, husband. I feel something stirring. Haggar is marshalling her powers. We must prepare for the inevitable." Her voice trembled and broke as she spoke.

"Does she know about Allura?"

Juliana shook her head decisively. "No. She does this for Zarkon. Arus would be just another planet to add to his empire. "

Alfor sighed, "Then there is still hope."

"Yes, there is still hope..." Juliana agreed with a weak smile. She allowed herself the luxury of forgetting that she was a queen and a daughter of Cador and became an anxious mother, filled with fear for her child.

Alfor watched the terror flicker across his wife's expressive face and understood it immediately. He felt the same way himself. He took her in his arms and pressed a kiss to her golden head.

Coran cleared his throat uncomfortably and bowed low before them, "Your Majesties, with your permission, I will begin preparing the planetary defense system."

Alfor held up a hand, "Wait, my friend. Before you go, there is something I must ask of you... If anything happens to either of us, swear to us that you will care for our daughter as you would your own."

Coran paused, "Of course. Fiat, my lord. Thy will be done." He bowed before them once more and left the room, discreetly closing the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 1

Allura strolled through the gardens of the Castle of Lions aimlessly. She had been going over some reading materials for the new policies she hoped to bring before her Privy Council but she decided to take a short break after realizing that she had been staring at the same page for several minutes without understanding anything.

She wandered around, greeting the gardeners she met with a smile and a few words, until she came to a small rose garden completely surrounded by high hedges. This tiny area was all that was left of what had once been an extensive labyrinth.

It was an extraordinarily peaceful scene and it called to her – not only because it was a quiet place where she could sit and be alone with her thoughts but also because it reminded her of the places she and her mother would sit, talking about what it meant to be a Princess of Arus and a Daughter of Cador.

She found a stone bench under a blossom-covered arbor and sank down on it, grateful for the shade. She closed her eyes and tried to let the music of the bird songs and the gentle splashing of the fountain in the center of the garden soothe her strained nerves.

It had been one hell of a day. After fending off an early morning ro-beast attack with the rest of the Force, she had had an eight o'clock breakfast with the village elders at Dyab followed by a personal appearance at the children's ward of the hospital in Juwna. Those personal appearances were followed by a luncheon with representatives of various health care groups and a particularly trying meeting with her Privy Council.

She muttered a particularly vile epithet under her breath and looked around guiltily, half-expecting Nanny to be hovering nearby ready to pounce on her for her un-princesslike behavior.

Seeing that she was alone, she allowed her shoulders to slump. There were so many things that she wanted to do, but state resources were limited. Perhaps if the Privy Council had joined her during those meetings, they would understand how many problems the current Arussian health care program had.

The things she learned during her visits with children crippled in the course of Zarkon's attacks and her talks with underprivileged villagers without access to basic health services broke her heart.

While she was personally doing what she could to assist these people, she could not help but feel that the state needed to do more for these marginalized groups, a position that the Privy Council did not seem to understand.

She hated disappointing the people that she had come to care for, but it seemed that it was all that she was capable of doing.

Although she knew that her parents loved her deeply, she had felt their disappointment because of her lack of magical talent. To compensate, she tried to excel in her studies and become the daughter that they wanted.

It didn't work.

She often caught them watching her with a strange look in their eyes when she was growing up. It was the same look she often saw in the eyes of her Prime Minister and Royal Governess, just before they began to lecture her about her duty to her people, as a Princess of Arus and a Daughter of Cador.

As much as she tried, she couldn't be the person that they wanted her to be. She buried her face in her hands and gave into her desire to weep. Was she a disappointment to her parents, to Coran and to everyone else who depended on her?

Keith wandered through the gardens, enjoying the peace and privacy that they offered. He often came at this time of the day, when the gardeners had finished their chores, and he could be alone, save for the butterflies and birds seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the area.

He came here often to seek refuge and escape from the pressures of the world and, if he was totally honest with himself, the pressure he placed on himself ever since he entered the service.

It wasn't easy being the grandson of a Space Marshall, he mused. Even if he knew that he had managed to achieve everything on his own, without his grandfather's help, there were some who whispered that he would not have gotten to where he was without family connections easing his way.

One of the first things he had learned as a cadet was that he had to show more merit, more skill, and more dedication than anyone. Life in the Space Academy had been difficult enough to begin with, and constantly being singled out by people who either wanted to suck up to or get even with his grandfather just made everything even harder.

The career track he chose after graduation was a deliberate attempt to move away from his grandfather's sphere of influence. By specializing in operations in the far universe, he earned himself endless commendations from the officers he served under and dozens of decorations for courage under fire.

Even though some people thought him too severe, too single minded in his obsession with duty, his qualifications alone secured him his position as Commander of the Voltron Force, even after the death of his grandfather.

But with everything that had happened after being assigned to Arus, instead of being the simple expeditionary mission commander that he had expected to be, he was the ranking Garrison officer in the quadrant, responsible for the peace and safety of millions of innocent civilians.

As such, his duties spanned a wide range of services, from those that he had been trained intensively in – such as piloting and space exploration – to areas that he had had little if any exposure to in the course of his career.

His schedule was a constant game of catch-up. His regular duties occupied the days and left him the nights for further study. With all that he had to do and all that he had to learn, he had very little—if any—time for himself.

He ran his fingers through his already unruly hair, wishing that he could magically make his jumbled thoughts clear. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, Keith reminded himself mechanically, remembering how his grandfather had loved the wisdom and simplicity of quotations.

Duty and service were everything to him. He was doing what he had been trained to do and he was making a difference in the process. But why did he feel as though what he was doing wasn't enough? Recently, he had been feeling an uncharacteristic confusion, a quiet emptiness that made him doubt the principles by which he lived his life.

Taking a deep breath, he mentally walled up his concerns and reasserted his legendary control over himself. He couldn't give in to the luxury of having emotions. Battles had been lost and wars had been decided because of emotional command decisions...

You can try, Keith, but you'll never be able to shut yourself off totally... A quiet inner voice that sounded much like his grandfather's reminded him. He swore quietly and increased his pace, turning the corner.

He stopped in his tracks when he found Allura sitting on a bench, half-hidden in the shadowy arbor. Even at his distance, he could see from her stance that she wanted to be left alone, but before he knew it, he had taken an involuntary step towards her.

"Be careful, Princess."

Allura jumped as Keith's voice startled her out of her reverie.

"The wind might change… Back on Earth, it's said that you should be careful when you frown outdoors. If you're frowning when the wind changes, you'll end up frowning forever." Keith explained.

For a brief moment, she thought about ignoring him but years of Nanny's training, and well, respect for the man himself would not allow her to do so. She rose to her feet and stepped into the sunlight, retreating to the fountain in the center of the garden.

"Oh, I always wondered you meant by that," she replied blithely. "I've heard Lance say that about Hunk's face many times. I knew it probably wasn't something very nice so I never asked what it meant."

Wincing inwardly at how idiotic she sounded, she watched the way that the droplets of water danced across the surface of the fountain. Even with her face averted, she could feel his eyes studying her back.

"What are you doing here, Princess?" Keith finally asked. "Weren't you supposed to be going over some policies with Coran? I was told that it would be more convenient for you if we scheduled Lion practice after dinner today."

Allura sat down on the edge of the fountain and avoided meeting his eyes. She quickly blinked away the tears, unwilling to let anyone—particularly the Commander she looked up to— see the evidence of her vulnerability.

"Nothing really," she said, with an uncertain smile. "I'm just being a silly girl… I was just thinking about how different life was before… all this Zarkon happened. When I had to learn things because I'd need to know about them someday, instead of having to learn things because my people need me to make decisions for them."

"I know what you mean," Keith nodded. "When I was a kid, I would work extra hard on my lessons because my grandfather used to tell me that the Galaxy Alliance would only let kids on the honor roll become Space Explorers."

"Did you always want to be a Space Explorer?"

"Only since I was around six years old… My grandfather took me down to Garrison HQ one day and asked a friend of his to take me up on a ship." Keith smiled at the memory, remembering the breathless exhilaration he felt when he saw the stars up close for the first time. "What do you want to do when you were little?"

"A musketeer," Allura said, with a small smile, even though her eyes were cloudy with memories. "The All-For-One-And-One-For-All kind that Alexandre Dumas used to write about."

"So I suppose you pestered your father for fencing lessons?" Keith asked.

"I didn't need to. My father made sure that I learned. He said that he needed someone to spar with and that he wanted us to do something together," Allura said, her voice suddenly small and very far away, "He told me then that he was proud of me… of how fast I learned… I wonder if he would say that now."

"I think so. You're doing the best you can," he said quietly, recognizing in her eyes the same uncertainty that he often felt himself. "There's only so much a single person can do. You can't be everything for everyone, you know."

For a moment, Allura felt as though she lost her footing. The world beneath her seemed to slip away. Keith could see though her shields in a way that no one else had been able to before. "You have just as much responsibility on your shoulders, Keith. How do you handle it?"

"Me?" He raised an eyebrow and took a seat on the edge of the fountain. "I won't pretend it doesn't affect me — there are times when I stay awake thinking about what I should have done. But one of the things I learned early on is that there's no point in crying over spilt milk. All I can do is learn from my mistakes and do better in the future."

Allura digested his words silently.

"Which is why Lance thinks that I'm a heartless, unfeeling bastard," he continued wryly.

Allura burst into laughter at the discovery that Keith's serious mien hid a lively sense of humor. "So you would have us believe. But you don't fool any of us, you know."

Keith flashed her a quicksilver smile, "And your pretence of invulnerability has never fooled any of us, either."

She acknowledged his point with a slight quirk of her lips. "It's just that... everyone expects so much of me," she confessed hesitantly, "and I can't seem to live up to their expectations."

Keith nodded wisely, "Someday, Highness, you'll learn the same lesson that I did when I was in the academy. Expectations are flickering lights, but in the end, you cast your own shadows."

Allura frowned quizzically. "Coran used to make me read a lot of philosophy, but I don't remember ever coming across that quotation. Is that from a Terran philosopher?"

Keith nodded. "Yeah. Blackwell, Keith Alexander," he smiled briefly at her. "Look, I just wanted you to know that I understand what you're going through." He shrugged his shoulders self-consciously, uncomfortable talking about feelings.

"My parents died when I was just a kid, so I was raised by my grandfather until I entered the academy. It was a pretty normal situation, except for one thing – my grandfather was Space Marshal Graham's predecessor."

Allura's eyes widened with surprise.

"As you can imagine, I got a lot of flack when I entered the academy because of my family name. A lot of the officers and cadets thought the only reason I was admitted to the Academy was because of my grandfather's influence, even though he had already retired by then."

"From what I heard, you did more than prove them wrong. Your marks in some simulators were the highest ever recorded," Allura said quietly. "And Pidge told me that your overall record stands until now."

Keith's mouth quirked upwards. "Don't believe everything you hear, Princess. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not Superman, you know. I can't jump over tall buildings with a single bound."

"Superman?"

"A comic book legend back on Terra. He was actually from the Planet Krypton, but his parents sent him to Terra as a baby when their planet exploded. Now the thing is, when he got to Terra, our yellow sun gave him super powers like flight, invulnerability, super strength and x-ray vision."

"I'm sorry, what galaxy was Krypton in again?" Allura asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"It wasn't a real planet," Keith explained with a wry grin, "And Superman was really just a story written centuries ago. It was one of the books that my grandfather made me read when I was growing up."

"Oh, Coran did that to me too!" Allura laughed, settling into a more comfortable position on the fountain's edge. "He used to assign me a new book every week which I would have to discuss with him and my parents over tea."

"Was Coran's book club how you discovered Alexandre Dumas?"

"Monsieur Dumas was my father's favorite Terran author. He loved the intrigue, adventure and romance of the Three Musketeers," Allura said. "He surprised me one time with a Musketeer uniform that I could wear during my fencing lessons with him."

"I can imagine how Nanny reacted to that," Keith said, watching her out of the corner of his eye, idly appreciating the picture she made. As always, being with the Princess always lifted his spirits. In some indefinable way, she calmed him and made him remember all that he was fighting for.

"Well, let us just say that she and my mother were not pleased," Allura smiled. "Daughters of Cador are supposed to be the epitome of propriety and decorum. Fencing is not the kind of thing that we were supposed to do."

A butterfly landed on Allura's hand and claimed her attention. The silence that settled comfortably between them was punctuated only by the trills and warbles of the birds examining the contents of the bird feeder nestled in between the arches of the trellis.

She glanced up and caught him watching her. He flushed guiltily and rose to his feet. "So, how long has it been since you last used a sword?"

She stared at him bemusedly, caught off-guard by his sudden change in topic. His expression did not give any clue to what he was thinking. He looked as calm and composed as ever.

Her answering smile was a tentative one. "Excluding the time that I flew the Black Lion and had to form the Blazing Sword? Oh quite some time. I don't think I've been able to spar with anyone since you boys arrive here on Arus."

"Well then, Your Highness," Keith smiled as he got to his feet and offered her his best courtly bow. "If you have nothing better to do before the dinner, perhaps I can challenge you to a duel? May the best man win."


	3. Chapter 2

The present Castle of Lions was built partially on top of a much older fortress — an ancient stone castle, which had been destroyed by Zarkon's troops. A set of narrow, convoluted hallways at the back of the present castle connected it to the ancient fortress.

Coran found himself walking through these hallways on his way to the Royal Crypt. After a few false starts, he found himself walking down a hallway that was very old and obviously seldom used, judging from the dust and cobwebs that decorated it.

He didn't expect otherwise. The Royal Crypt was not one of the more popular areas of the castle. Except for Allura and possibly an old retainer or two, it was doubtful that anyone passed through them regularly.

The passageway ended at a dark hole. He placed his torch in a special scone in the wall and watched as one by one, the torches along the walls flared to life to light his path down a long spiraling staircase.

He climbed down it gingerly, supporting his weight on the cane he had taken to carrying around. Once he reached the foot of the staircase, he paused to catch his breath— he was not accustomed to physical exertion — his heart was pounding so hard that he could hardly hear himself think.

He took the opportunity to study his surroundings. The flickering torch lights revealed an arch above the entrance to the Royal Crypt, which was emblazoned with the motto and crest of the House of Lyonnaise, who had ruled Arus for thousands of years.

"My sword for your protection, my hand for your justice and my life in service of you."

He entered the room and was overwhelmed by the sense of history imbued in this place, as he always was. It was amazing. The walls and floor of the crypt were lined with hundreds of graves. All the kings and queens who had ever ruled Arus were buried here –except for one – Juliana.

Alfor had refused to let his wife be buried here. In his grief over her death, he could not bear to think of her being buried in the Royal Crypt, away from the sunshine and the gardens that she had loved so much. He had ordered Coran to arrange for her to be buried on the bluff overlooking the Castle, so that she could always watch over Allura.

Coran came to a halt before the tomb of King Alfor. As always, he was struck by how lonely it looked, without Juliana's at its side. He shook his head and scolded himself for his uncharacteristic sentimentality before turning to the matter at hand.

He bowed and knelt before the tomb, speaking to Alfor as though his friend could hear him. "Hello, old friend. I've come to you for advice, as I always do. Not that I have to listen to you anyway," he said, in just the way that Alfor used to say it.

Despite Coran's best efforts to restrain him, Alfor had been drawn to trouble like a moth to a flame. Allura took after him in that respect. The two of them were always trying to right a wrong, without thinking of any possible consequences to their safety or dignity or whatever.

He smiled as he remembered happier days. The Little Princess had been the pampered darling of the royal household. Stories about Allura's antics and escapades brought smiles to the face of every member of the royal court.

That was not the case now, he thought dourly.

Allura had become a handful. She was determined to prove herself worthy of her heritage by becoming a member of the Voltron Force and piloting the Blue Lion, despite all the danger involved in doing so.

To her mind, she was capable of protecting herself, despite what others may think. She could not understand that her innocent nature and fragile beauty triggered the protective instincts in the people around her.

He chuckled softly, remembering several spirited discussions on that topic between the princess and the young Voltron Force captain, one of the few people who could — and would — stand up to Allura.

He secretly enjoyed watching those arguments. Keith and Allura were both proud, independent people who were too stubborn — and blind — to realize what was in front of their noses.

It seemed like everyone knew how they felt about each other except Keith and Allura. He knew that the rest of the Voltron Force worried about his reaction to their relationship, if it could be called that.

He smiled in satisfaction, thinking of the role he played so convincingly. The Voltron Force thought of him as the Princess' heavy- handed guardian. No one would ever suspect him of secretly plotting how to make Keith and Allura realize that they were meant for each other.

He groaned suddenly. The dampness of the crypt and his kneeling position had made the ache in his joints become more pronounced. He pulled out his old-fashioned pocket watch and glanced at it. He was amazed at how much time had passed.

"It is not easy to grow old, Alfor." He leaned heavily on his cane and pushed himself to a standing position. "You would have hated it. The spirit feels just as young as ever, but the flesh, ah, the flesh just reminds you of how many years have gone by."

"Do you remember Juliana's vision?" Coran paused, as if waiting for Alfor to respond to him, "I have met the young man that Juliana saw. He flies the Black Lion and commands the Voltron Force. You would approve of him, my friend. Somehow, he manages to ground Allura in ways that I never would have thought possible." Coran sighed tiredly and glanced behind him again.

"It is time for me to pass the guardianship of your daughter on to him, Alfor. I wish him the best of luck. He will need it," Coran smiled faintly. He was torn between a laugh and a sad sigh, "I will be seeing you again soon, my friend."


	4. Chapter 3

Keith's heels clicked on the wooden floors of the salle as he paced back and forth. The thirty or so minutes he had been waiting for Allura had been enough time for his better judgment to kick in.

Queen Juliana and Nanny were right. Fencing was too dangerous a sport for the Princess Royal of Arus to engage in. He had heard of fencers who had been maimed and even killed when the safety tips on their opponents' epees slipped!

"Keith?"

"Princess, maybe this wasn't a very good idea, after all." Keith said, launching into the speech that he had been practicing. "Fencing isn't the safest sport in the world, you know."

He knew her well enough to recognize the flash of temper, but her voice was calm as she inclined her head. "Father always used to tell me that recklessness and aggression were best spent here rather than in the Council Chamber."

She crossed to a rack of fencing gear and studied the slim, shiny epees. She chose one and cut the air with it to test its weight, bringing the sword down in an arc that whistled with restrained power.

Keith's brow lifted at the easy way that she handled her sword, conceding that she did have a point. Rulers needed to be able to defend their people, their lands and their birthrights with whatever weapons they had on hand and for the most part, when she was fulfilling her royal duties and not flying the Blue Lion, Allura's weapons were her words and diplomatic skills.

"Please let me do this, Keith." Allura said quietly. "You know how much I love flying, but the day will come when I will have to listen to Nanny and Coran and stop flying the Blue Lion. "

Keith leaned back against the barre. "Look, Princess. I know how much this means to you, but I just don't want you to take unnecessary chances. I've been fencing for years and I've seen how bad a fencing accident can be."

Allura looked up from a selection of meshed masks and padded fencing vests and shook her head. "If something is meant to happen to me, it will happen, regardless of what you or I or anyone else does to try to circumvent it."

"Yes, but Princess—"

"Could you please call me Allura?" the princess asked plaintively, taking a position behind the en garde line. "After what you just told me today, I would have thought that you, of all people, would understand why I need people to see me as more than just the Princess Royal of Arus."

"Alright, Allura. What do you hope to prove by this?"

Allura's eyes flashed sapphire with determination. "That I can handle myself. Here or anywhere."

Keith sighed with resignation. He could well understand why Allura was determined to prove herself. He slipped on his mask and vest, and watched to make sure that she followed his lead.

He extended his arm, and met the tip of Allura's sword with his, Arussian steel, cold and slender glinted in the mirrors. They held for a heartbeat. It was a teasing, testing start, with power held back.

Keith's reach was superior, being nearly half as long as Allura's. But Allura had the advantage of having seen Keith wield his sword many times before— against ro-beasts in battle and in a memorable battle against Lotor.

Pride and pleasure welled up in Keith as the princess blocked and parried his attacks. Nature prevented him from using his full skill, but even as he held back and probed Allura's defenses, he realized that she made both a formidable and an exciting partner.

Although Allura's fencing skills were rusty from disuse, she was good. Very good. The regimen of hand-to-hand practice that Keith prescribed for all the members of the Force together with the grace that came from years of dancing lessons made for impeccable footwork.

The slim white pants she wore distracted him with images of what moved so supplely beneath. Her wrists were narrow, but strong and flexible enough to keep him at bay. He moved in to challenge her. Swords crossed and clashed between them.

Desire tangled with the taste of competition. Her scent was richly feminine. The blue eyes behind the meshed mask glinted sapphire with emotion. The fist covered by the bowl of her sword was fragile.

Distracted as he was, he was surprised when Allura abandoned her steady defensive tactics and attacked in full force. Caught off guard, Keith took a step back and felt the soft tip push against his shoulder.

He lowered his sword and acknowledged the hit. "King Alfor was a good teacher."

"He always used to tell me that the best defense was a good offense."

Lance had always liked the East Wing. The gymnasium complex it contained was one of the few rooms in the castle that he felt comfortable in. He didn't feel like a bull in a china shop here, since the East Wing was a functional area, much like Castle Control.

Coran had once told him King Alfor had East Wing converted into a gym soon after ascending the throne. As a young man, the king had had an active personality, and the restrictions his security detail had placed on his activities outside the castle had chafed on him greatly.

Lance could well understand how the young king used exercise to forget his woes. After all, much to his dismay, for a few hours after a particularly intense sparring session with the rest of the Voltron Force, he barely had enough energy to flirt with the charming young maids who took great pains to throw themselves in his path.

He dropped his towel on a nearby bench and began to stretch, preparing himself for the bench presses that had been part of his daily routine since he first realized that how attractive a muscular physique was to the members of the fairer sex, but the distant clang of swords caught his attention and instead of working out as he intended, he found himself heading towards the studio at the far end of the complex.

The tang of chemically treated water assaulted his nostrils as he passed the solarium at the end of the exercise room, where a Jacuzzi stood ready to soothe aching muscles. It was a luxury that he and the rest of the Voltron Force – sans the Princess, of course – had treated themselves to on more than one occasion.

The door of the studio opened silently, revealing a floor of dull hardwood, spread now with a fencing mat. Along one wall ran a mirror and a dance _barre_. Two figures in white were reflected in the mirror as they moved together, knees slightly bent, backs straight, left arms curled up and behind.

Although mesh masks hid and protected their faces through the thrusts and parries, Lance had no problem recognizing the taller figure as his Captain. He had been Keith's sparring partner enough times to recognize how his friend looked with a facemask on.

Keith's moves were economical and effortless, the product of years of martial arts and weapons training, but his opponent moved like a trained dancer— with a lot of fancy footwork and a dramatic flourish of the wrist. Lance narrowed his eyes, trying to recognize who Keith fought.

The room rang with the sound of metal on metal. The opponents were silent but for their breathing. They were extremely well matched, Lance decided as he watched and analyzed styles and movement.

Keith was holding back a bit, tempering his strength, Lance noted, as he watched his friend move forward, choosing offense over defense. Once, Keith nearly disarmed his opponent, but the stranger's advantage in speed turned the opportunity around.

Their swords met with a clash near the grips and their faces met through the sharp-edged vee. Breathing fast, blades tensed, each held their ground. Then with two subtle moments of his wrist, Keith's opponent broke free, slipped past the Captain's guard and pressed the safety button lightly to Keith's heart.

"Nice one," Lance drawled admiringly. He shifted his lazy gaze to Keith's unknown fencing partner. "Whoever you are, you're a damned fine swordsman. Those were some smooth moves. I almost thought Keith had you there."

Reaching behind her head, Allura unfastened her facemask and pulled it off in one quick move. A hard shake of her head sent the pins that secured her heavy hair flying and sent a golden waterfall tumbling down her shoulders. "Thanks, Lance."

"Allura?!" Lance stuttered, his expression almost comical with shock as he tried to reconcile in his head the image he had of the slender, fragile princess he knew with the laughing girl who held an epee so confidently in her hands.


	5. Chapter 4

"I am pleased you could meet us here despite the lateness of the hour, My Lord," Allura said gravely, as Councilor Toima bowed before her. "Please have a seat."

"Thank you, Your Highness," the councilor said as he took the seat that Allura offered, setting his document case neatly on his lap. "I am sorry that I must impose on your kindness to meet with me at so late an hour, but I did not feel that business discussions were appropriate dinner-time conversation."

"Neither the prime minister nor I would have objected," Allura said, glancing at Coran for confirmation. "But as health-care is, shall we say, a pet project of mine, I would prefer to give your proposal the place it warrants and the due consideration it deserves."

Coran began the discussion. "While we have do have modern hospitals in our cities, approximately seventy-seven percent of our people rely on the village clinics to handle their medical needs. However, over the last five years, we have noticed a drastic decline in the number of these clinics. We have been told that while the doctors who man these clinics realize the need for their services in these trying times, to feed their families, they are forced to turn their backs on medicine and return to their farms."

"I am aware of that, Your Grace, as are the other members of Her Highness' Privy Council and we have prepared some documents to explain our proposal."

"Of course," Allura allowed him to pass around a set of neatly typed papers containing facts and figures. Though she knew what would find, the Princess gave her councilor the courtesy of looking over the papers, knowing how he was in the position to sway the opinions of others on the Privy Council. "So you propose that the Crown take over and operate these clinics?

"Doing so would greatly increase the efficiency of our health care services, Your Highness."

"State run enterprises are not always efficient more efficient than private ones," Allura noted gently. "When the Crown takes over, it also takes away the pride and independence of the individuals involved."

Coran nodded, responding to his cue, as Allura had instructed him to. "Her Highness would rather that the state allot a certain amount to subsidize these clinics to ensure that all stakeholders – both the medical personnel and the patients – retain both pride and efficiency.

Councilor Toima closed his document case with a snap. "But Your Highness, surely you see this implications of this course of action? Please consider how we should determine the subsidy, or how we should convince clinics that have closed to reopen, or—"

Allura nodded gravely and held up a hand to silence the councilor's protests. "Your insights are the reason I requested Coran to setup this meeting. Councilor, I would like to ask you for your help in assessing the things we must consider in coming up with the subsidy and developing an action plan."

The councilor sat back, knowing that he was being offered a challenge, a position of importance, and a request for surrender all at once. He shook his head and chuckled wryly, "I have no doubt that you could do all those yourself, Your Highness."

"But we can do things much more efficiently if we work together, can we not?" Allura's smile was gracious as she drew out a file of her own, "Now, if you would like to go over these—"

She broke off, looking up with some concern as Coran stood up, murmuring a hurried apology as he left the room. Keeping a polite smile on, she quickly excused herself to allow the councilor more time to study the information.

"Coran." She followed the Prime Minister into the hallway, studying him carefully. He was unusually pale. "You do not look well. Are you alright?"

"Yes, Your Highness." The strain in his voice drew her brows together in alarm. "Thank you for your concern but I am just tired."

Allura reached out affectionately to take his hand in between her own. Her smile faded instantly as a tendril of alarm ran though her. "You're cold. I want you to see Dr. Gorma immediately."

Coran tried to reassure her with a small smile. "Nonsense. I am an old man. Allow me to act like one." His smile faded as he suddenly grimaced with pain.

"What is it, Coran?" She demanded frantically. "What's wrong?"

"It's... nothing, Princess... Just a... twinge... of indigestion... from eating... too much." The words came out in jerks before he began to gasp for air.

"Coran!" Allura grabbed his lapels as he collapsed. His weight was too much for her to bear and she almost toppled to the floor as well. She lowered his prone body to the floor and reached into the hidden pocket sewn into her skirts for her communicator. She flipped it on and spoke into it, not bothering to hide her panic, "Keith, Lance, anyone, please help me! I'm outside the Amber Room!"

Keith, Lance and Hunk responded to her call immediately and arrived at a run. Keith quickly assessed the situation and took command, organizing everyone like the natural leader that he was.

"Hunk — call Dr. Gorma. Have him send a med team here immediately." He ordered, his head lowering to Coran's chest. His hands began to push in a steady rhythm. "I think Coran's had a heart attack."

Keith stopped his rhythm long enough to glance at Allura. His brow furrowed in worry at the sight of her. Allura's face was paler than he had ever seen it, her eyes were stricken and her hand was clutching Coran's like a vice. "Lance. See to the princess."

Lance grabbed Allura by the waist and lifted her off the floor, forcing her to stand even though she resisted at first.

" **Princess**. Stop doing that!" Lance commanded her sharply. "Let Keith help Coran. He can't do that and worry about you at the same time."

His words were as effective as a slap. Allura nodded and concentrated on breathing slow, deep and steady breaths until she gained control of herself. She broke free from Lance and knelt next to Coran, holding his hand and speaking to him in soft reassuring tones, until the medical team arrived.


	6. Chapter 5

Allura sat in the small lounge outside the medical facility. She had clasped her hands and lowered her head. She was desperately attempting to pray, but it was difficult for her to remember the words. Her mind and heart was numb with fear.

Keith was pacing the room like a caged lion, snapping orders into his communicator. "Hunk, do a quick recon of the countryside. Lance, handle my watch over Castle Control and make sure Pidge knows what happened... Have him make the Princess' excuses to Councilor Toima. He's probably still waiting for her in the Amber Room... Okay? That's all for now. Keep me posted guys."

He raked a hand through his already unruly hair. He hated feeling helpless and powerless to do anything. He would have rathered take the watch or go on patrol, but he knew that the Princess would need him there if anything happened.

Keith whirled around at the sound of a footstep. The white-coated figure of Dr. Gorma was approaching them. "What's going on? How is he?"

"The Prime Minister suffered a massive coronary. His heart is not as strong as it should be. I fear that the pressure and stress that he was under triggered the attack."

"Did you know the condition of his heart? You did, didn't you! Why didn't you tell us?" Keith demanded.

"I could not. His Grace forbade me to do so and I was bound by my oath as a doctor to keep his condition secret until he allowed me to discuss it with you."

"But—"

"Please, let's not argue about that now," Allura's tired voice interrupted the impending argument. "Doctor, all I want to know is this. Is he going to be alright?"

"We're doing everything we can, Your Highness, but his recovery depends on his spirits. He is very worried about you and I fear that this worry may hamper his recovery."

"Oh," Allura murmured.

Dr. Gorma watched as a mixture of relief, worry and guilt flickered across the Princess' expressive face. "He is conscious now and would like to see you and the captain. Come, I will take you to him now."

Keith reached out a hand and helped Allura rise from the chair. He took the opportunity to study her pale face — she looked shaken. He placed a comforting hand at the small of her back before guiding her to follow the doctor.

"He must remain calm so do not upset him." Dr. Gorma cautioned them as he opened the door to the private room where Coran was. "You can only stay for a few minutes. I will call you when it is time for you to go."

Allura stiffened as she saw Coran in the hospital bed with wires and tubes' connecting him to machines that buzzed and beeped. He didn't look like the strong proud man that she had known and relied on ever since she was a little girl. She took a deep breath and composed herself. Coran mustn't see how upset she had been.

Allura took a seat on the bed, being careful to avoid all the wires and tubes. "Hello Coran," she said affectionately as she reached for his hand and held it tightly. "I knew you weren't feeling well."

"Little Princess... " Coran's voice was weak and unsteady. Allura smiled at him warmly, remembering the endearment from her childhood, but her eyes were still dark with worry. Coran suddenly seemed so old.

"I... promised your father... I would take care of you. You can't be left alone again." His voice faltered and he tried to lift his head to search the room. "Keith... is he here?"

Allura glanced at Keith uncertainly and beckoned him over. Keith crossed the room to stand next to Allura so that Coran could see him. "I'm here, Coran."

"Promise you'll take care of her for me." Coran gestured feebly with his free hand, "She'll be all alone if anything happens to me... Promise!"

"I promise. You have my word."

Coran struggled for breath. "Not enough... Promise me... you'll marry her... as soon as possible... you must protect her from Zarkon... She's the one... This is the only way!"

Keith's eyes widened but his voice was strong and reassuring, "I will. Don't worry about anything Coran. I'll take care of her." As he stepped back, he saw Dr. Gorma signal them from the doorway.

"It's time to go, Princess." Keith helped Allura up and waited while she kissed the top of Coran's head. "We'll be back soon Coran."

Allura allowed Keith to lead her from the medical facility. She was glad to see that they were heading towards her private study — at least no one could hear them in there. She knew that they were going to have another "discussion" again.

She jerked out of Keith's hold as soon as he shut the door. All her fear and confusion bubbled into fury and she whirled around to confront him. "How could you do that? How could you tell Coran you were going to marry me?"

"I told him what he needed to hear. Would it kill you to obey him for once if it helps save his life?" Keith countered evenly, without a hint of expression on his face.

"I will not do this." Allura lifted her chin defiantly and glared at him.

"Doesn't he mean anything to you? Are you so selfish and hard headed that you can't make a small sacrifice to help him? Or is the idea of marrying me so bad that you won't even consider it?" Keith raised his voice and shouted at her.

Allura flinched as if he had struck her. Keith couldn't have been more mistaken. She would have done anything for Coran. After all, the Prime Minister was more than just her advisor — he was another father to her.

To be Keith's wife. To belong to him. It was something that she had wanted it so badly that she hadn't even dared to think of it. But the captain wasn't interested in a real marriage — he didn't love her — his over-developed sense of duty had pushed him into this.

Keith ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He made an effort to rein in his frustrated temper because of the confusion flickering across Allura's expressive face. "Look, Princess, I owe him. He's done a lot for me — and for all of us. If our marriage means this much to him, then I'm willing to go through with this."

Allura forced herself to think clearly. She took a deep, steadying breath to compose herself, "I know that and I appreciate your loyalty to him — and to me — but..." Her eyes met his in a desperate plea for him to understand, "I had hoped to marry someone who I loved, and who loved me back."

It was his turn to break their eye contact for a moment. He looked at the floor and rubbed the back of his neck. It was time to tell her the unvarnished truth.

His dark eyes bored into hers, "Princess, you deserve to have that kind of marriage, but I don't know if I can give you that. I know what the others say about me behind my back. Pidge thinks that an icicle has more warmth than I do."

Allura drew in her breath sharply, realizing that, for the first time, Keith was appearing before her without any of his usual masks. In his eyes, she saw undisguised pain.

His solemn voice filled the quiet room, as he continued to speak. "I can't promise you a grand passion. I don't think I'm capable of it. I don't feel things as deeply as you do, but I do care for you, more than I ever expected to care for anyone."

He reached out an uncertain hand to wipe away the tears that began to trickle down her cheeks. "It's not much and I don't know if that's enough to base a marriage on, but it's all I can give you."

Will that be enough? Allura asked herself desperately. She felt her resistance crumbling as her better sense was overturned by the effect of his handsome face and his deep voice.

She swallowed the lump of emotion that lodged in her throat and closed her eyes, making a futile effort to fight the tears began to flow freely.

Keith was at a loss. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know what to do or what to say to make her feel better. He settled for holding her and stroking her hair gently until the storm passed.

Long minutes passed in silence before Allura reluctantly pulled away from him and the comfort that he offered.

She had come to a decision.

She offered him a tentative smile, "But you know, if we're going to get married... you really will have to call me Allura It'll be really strange if you keep on calling me Princess."


	7. Chapter 6

Despite the lateness of the hour, within minutes, everyone in the Castle knew that the Princess and the Captain were having another discussion. Dr. Gorma's orderly noticed the expressions on their faces as they left the medical facility and guessed that a domestic storm was brewing.

The castle grapevine immediately came alive with speculation as to why their leaders were arguing. Their interest was piqued even further when the Princess summoned a steward and ordered coffee and sandwiches. The lucky steward found himself at the center of attention when he placed the order in the Castle kitchen.

Apparently, the Princess had cried a great many tears on the Captain's strong shoulder, the steward explained to the fascinated kitchen maids as he waited for the order to be prepared. It must be serious, he added, because while he was there, the Captain had summoned the rest of the Voltron Force...

Lance, Pidge and Hunk strode into the study in response to Keith's summons. The exhausted expressions on their faces showed that the excitement of the day and the lateness of the hour had caught up with them.

"Food!" Hunk's spirits lightened as he noticed the coffee and snacks that Allura had ordered from the castle kitchen. "Great. I was getting hungry." He forgot his exhaustion at the prospect of eating again.

Pidge perched onto the arm of the sofa. "Tell me something I don't know. I could hear your stomach rumbling all the way here," he stretched and stifled a yawn. "Didn't you have enough to eat at dinner?"

"That was before Coran had his attack. You know how hungry I get when I get worried." Hunk snapped.

"And when you get sleepy and when you get tired... Hunk, you might as well admit it, everything makes you hungry," Pidge retorted with a tired snicker.

Lance ignored the friendly bickering and sank into an armchair with a sigh. "We heard that Coran's going to be fine," he said, as he accepted a cup of coffee from the princess.

Allura passed a plate of snacks to Hunk and sought out Keith's eyes. He responded to her silent entreaty with a brief nod and a small reassuring smile.

"But that's not why you called us," Lance stated as he sensed the silent exchange between his two friends. "Something's up."

"We wanted you to be the first to know." Keith crossed from his position by the window to sit down next to Allura, reaching for her hand and twining her fingers with his own.

Lance shot an incredulous glance towards their linked hands and controlled the urge to remark on their unusual behavior. He knew his friends too well, if he sidetracked them, he would never find out why Keith had called a meeting. "What?"

"We're getting married," Keith announced. He leaned back and watched with interest while the Voltron Force absorbed the news and dealt with in their own unique fashion.

Lance broke out into a fit of coughing and choking. His head swiveled back and forth from Keith to Allura, staring at them in disbelief. Beside him, Pidge, normally the most agile and graceful of them all, lost his balance and fell to the floor, where he lay gaping at them with his mouth open. Hunk sat up and set aside his plate of food untouched.

"Did you just—?"

"Since when have you —"

"WHAT THE F—"

Keith held up his hands to fend off the barrage of questions and waited for the commotion to die down.

"Coran was worried. With his health and the Zarkon situation, he decided that us getting married was the best way to keep the Princess safe. We decided that you guys should know the real reason, but as far as everyone else knows Allura and I fell in love."

"It will be a traditional wedding, we've decided that much, since we doubted that Nanny would allow us to do otherwise," Allura continued. "The ceremony will be held in the cathedral and the reception here. We should be able arrange everything in a month."

"We can't wait that long." Keith reminded her. "Coran is so worried about you that it's affecting his recovery. It didn't take you that long to arrange the last ball we had, did it?"

"Well, we had two weeks to prepare but —"

"Look, Nanny probably started planning your wedding even before you turned twelve. She may not be happy about the suddenness, but I'm willing to bet you a month of desserts that she'll get the job done with her usual flair for the dramatic," Keith said wryly.

Allura's protest died on her lips. She would have preferred a small intimate wedding considering the circumstances, but tradition had to be observed. Besides, she knew from experience that the more time that they had to prepare, the more grandiose the affair would be. She decided to sit back and conserve her energies for what lay ahead.


	8. Chapter 7

The chittering of her pet space mice roused Allura from a sound sleep.

For several moments, she lay perfectly still, content to enjoy the peace and stillness of the early morning, until it occurred to her — she had agreed to marry Keith.

Her heart began to hammer as the reality of that decision clamored in her brain. Oh God, what in the world had she done? She was supposedly an intelligent woman, but she must have been insane to agree to this. She was going to marry the man she loved but he didn't return her feelings.

Tears pooled in her eyes and began to trickle down her cheeks. Cheddar began to twitter, wanting to know what was wrong. He patted her cheek to demand attention but she refused to answer him and turned away to sob into her pillow.

Finally, he decided to take matters into his own paws. He called his family together and began to issue instructions to them. His children ran off while he and his wife stayed behind with their princess, who refused to be comforted.

Allura froze when the door to her room swished open and closed again. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, hoping that the person who entered would leave.

"I know you're awake, Little One, your mice came to fetch me. Stop pretending to be asleep. It is time for you to wake up, anyway." Nanny crossed the room to open the curtains and let the sun fill the room.

Allura lay still and forced her breathing into a regular rhythm, still pretending to be asleep. It was a futile effort though; she felt the bed sag and a comforting hand stroke her back.

"Princess, what is wrong?" Nanny's voice was full of concern. It was the same loving tone that Nanny had used when she was a little girl in need of comfort. She reacted instinctively, becoming that little girl again.

"Oh, Nanny," Allura buried her face in Nanny's ample lap. "It's awful!"

"So awful that you cannot tell me all of it?" Nanny chided gently and continued stroking her back. "Come," she said, "Tell Nanny what it is and you will see that it not that bad."

"Coran made Keith promise to marry me and I agreed!" Allura's words came out in a rush. "Oh Nanny, what am I supposed to do?" She wailed. "I love him so much, but he doesn't love me! He's just doing this because he has to!"

Nanny stroked the golden head on her lap in a calming gesture, "Little Princess, your mother was once in the same position you are in now. She was betrothed to your father on the day she was born and she fell in love with him as a child, even before she knew what love was. But he did not feel the same way."

Allura lifted her head from Nanny's lap and looked at her incredulously. "Do you mean to tell me that Mother and Father were not madly in love? Why, even now, the people talk about how devoted they were to each other."

"Child, your mother married for love, but your father married because of duty. She knew that then, but she decided then that her love was enough to base the marriage on..."

Nanny's eyes clouded, as her thoughts turned to the past and to the lady she had served with such devotion. "She loved him so much... and by the time you were born, your father loved her with all his heart."

Nanny paused and looked at Allura intently. "Little Princess, the young captain has sworn to keep you safe from harm and he has sacrificed much to do so. Perhaps he does not love you now, but he does care for you deeply."

She wiped the tears from Allura's cheeks. "In that, he reminds me of your father, just as you remind me of your mother. Perhaps that will be enough. Do not lose hope, Little Princess, I have a feeling that, you will be as lucky as they were."

Nanny strode towards the Medical Facility with the force of a hurricane that the Voltron Force often likened her to. At this moment, she was one of most dangerous of all creatures — she was a mother defending her child.

Despite her comforting words to Allura, she was filled with apprehension. It was entirely likely that because of Coran's matchmaking, the princess' heart would be broken.

She swept into Coran's room without announcing herself and interrupted Doctor Gorma from his examination of his patient. "Coran. I would have a word with you."

Coran sighed in resignation. He had been expecting this. "Please excuse us, Rool." He said apologetically to the Royal Physician. "There are matters that Nanny and I must discuss in private."

Nanny waited until the doctor stepped back before firing the first salvo. Nanny demanded imperiously in Cadorian, "What is this that the Princess tells me? Why have you arranged her marriage to the Captain so suddenly?"

"I am protecting her!" Coran's voice rose as he defended himself, responding to her in the same language. "I know of no other man who I would entrust her to. He will care for her well when we are gone!"

"Enough with this! We are not gone yet!" Nanny threw up her hands in exasperation. She took a deep breath and tried again, "Coran, you know why I worry about her so. If Haggar ever finds out about her..."

"I know, Betta. That is why I arranged her marriage to him. Keith has proven his ability to defend Arus time after time and he protects her with the same intensity."

Nanny shook her head wisely, "You should not worry about that, Coran. He is devoted to her... and to Arus. What you should worry about is Allura's heart... Can an other-worlder, and a Terran at that, really understand what is in the heart of a Daughter of Cador?"

"Perhaps he understands more than we know, Betta," Coran murmured, as he felt a wave of fatigue wash over him. "Keith is wise beyond his years. Allura respects him and listens to him..."

Nanny was about to argue further when she was interrupted by Dr. Gorma's firm hand on her shoulder. "Mistress, I must ask that you go now. His Grace is tiring and worrying about the Princess' future cannot be good for him."

She grunted with frustration and pinned the Prime Minister with her dark-eyed stare, "I will not speak of this again, Coran, but I must tell you now that I have my reservations..."

"Thank you, Betta. I appreciate your discretion." Coran nodded.

Nanny smiled menacingly and continued speaking as though Coran had never interrupted, "... and if any harm comes to the princess because of what you have done, you will answer to me."


	9. Chapter 8

Allura picked up a fresh piece of stationery and continued with the exhausting task of signing notes of appreciation for the awesome number of wedding gifts that had been arriving in droves.

She was exhausted.

As Keith predicted, their plans for a simple wedding had been hastily quenched when Nanny found out about it. Citing royal tradition and the people's need to celebrate, Nanny had lobbied tirelessly for the chance to put together an event that would be the talk of the Far Universe— even if she had only two weeks to plan it.

Allura wished with all her heart that she had not given in to Nanny — at least that way, she wouldn't have to sign as many notes. She knew that she could have delegated that job to her secretaries, but she felt that it was the least she could do to show her— or rather their — appreciation.

And as if that wasn't enough, she and Keith had had almost two weeks of non-stop activity, ever since the formal announcement of the nuptials. They had scheduled public appearances in between the Lion Practices, leaving them with very little time to sleep or even rest.

It was a wonder that she had managed to find the time to think about how she wanted to have the twenty-room apartment that she was to share with Keith prepared. The demands on her time prevented her from conducting an ocular inspection of the suite, so instead, she gave instruction to Nanny, trusting that her former governess would carry out her responsibilities with the zeal and enthusiasm she was known for.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Allura began to sign yet another note, noting with some dismay that despite having signed enough appreciation cards to make her hand hurt, the stack on her desk was around two inches tall.

She was so distracted that she didn't even hear the door swish open.

While waiting for the Princess to acknowledge his presence, Keith took the opportunity to watch her. She was seated at her writing desk, her honey-blonde hair twisted into an intricate arrangement of braids. Her head was bent slightly as she wrote and her flawless profile was turned towards him.

With the sunshine streaming through the window beside her, she looked so fragile and lovely that she seemed ethereal. It was a perfect setting for someone who radiated life and laughter and compassion.

He cleared his throat to catch her attention.

Allura looked up with a tired smile that brightened when she saw him.

"Keith," She raised a hand to invite him to join her and indicated the stacks of cards that she was supposed to sign. "Please tell me that you're going to offer to sign some of these."

He chuckled at the hopeful tone in her voice and retorted, "No. You wanted to do this. I decided not to waste my breath arguing with you. I knew I'd need all my patience for that video-conference with Garrison Command."

"It's not that I wanted to do this, but rather that protocol demands that I personally address the ones coming from other Heads of State." Allura stretched her arms in front of her with a tired sigh, "Besides, from what you tell me, if it comes to a choice between arguing with those generals and working with Nanny on all the preparations that need to be made, Nanny seems to be the lesser of the two evils."

Keith rolled his eyes and perched on the corner of Allura's desk. "I'll keep that in mind the next time. God, I hate having to listen to politicians and bureaucrats. Is it always like this?"

Allura smiled sympathetically, "Sometimes, but not always. The politicians and bureaucrats you hate so much are a nuisance but you'll see that they're a necessary evil. By the way, what did you talk about?"

Keith shrugged, "Well, Space Marshall Graham spent twenty-seven minutes lecturing me about my good fortune and then he ordered me to report to Terra so that we could discuss the closer ties between Galaxy Alliance and Arus."

"Closer ties? I don't think that the ties could get any closer. You'll be the only Prince Consort who serves as a Galaxy Garrison officer," Allura smiled.

"Tell me about it." Keith grimaced. "Space Marshall Graham is taking all the credit for getting us together. If he didn't send me to Arus, I would never have met you, etceteras, etceteras, etceteras."

Allura laughed lightly. "I'm sure Lance got a kick out of that."

Keith's eyes lightened briefly in amusement before turning solemn again. "He also ordered me to report to Terra for a meeting. He wants to discuss how to best take advantage of my new roles as Knight Defender of Arus and as a Garrison officer on active duty. "

Allura's brow furrowed in confusion. "What ever for?"

Keith sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I've heard rumors that Galaxy Garrison is fractionalized now. Some of these factions have been pressuring the Space Marshal into realigning the role of the Arus into one that's more... active."

Allura stared at him with dawning horror. "You mean that they want to use Arus as a staging area for offensive operations against Zarkon, don't you?"

Keith's expression was as placid as ever, but he couldn't hide the worry that glinted in his eyes. "I don't have a very good feeling about this," he admitted. "It doesn't seem like Graham's style. Something's up."

Allura frowned thoughtfully, "I know what you mean. The Alliance has never interfered with the internal politics of the member planets. They've always respected our sovereignty, even it they didn't agree with our policies..."

Her voice trailed off as the alarm sirens began to fill the castle. Without another word, she picked up her skirts and followed Keith to Castle Control.


	10. Chapter 9

The rest of the force was already assembled in Castle Control by the time Keith got there, with Allura following close behind him.

"Coran, what's happening?" Keith demanded automatically, only to realize that the person stationed in the prime minister's normal seat was not who he expected it to be.

"Umm... I'm not sure, Sir," A flustered Arussian enlisted rating technician reported, after a long glance at the console in front of him, "Our early warning system just went off!"

"Well," Lance snapped sarcastically, "since it just went off, don't you think you should put it on the main screen so that we can see WHY it went off?"

"Oh... yes Commander sir... I'm bringing it up now, sir." The rating tech pressed a few buttons and the main screen shimmered to display the sky west of the castle.

Behind him, Keith cast his eyes towards the heavens and made a mental note to discuss the Castle Control staffing requirements with Coran Allura as soon as the battle ended. They needed to train a replacement for Coran ASAP.

Allura's eyes widened with horror as she saw the size of the assault force that filled the western sky.

Pidge let out a low whistle, "I think Lotor isn't very happy with us, Keith. I thought you were going to remind Nanny about the special invitation for him?"

Keith looked up from the display monitor he was examining and grinned at the young space explorer. "I guess it slipped my mind. Does anyone want to come deliver it with me?"

The Lions burst out of their hidden dens and fell into their normal formation — Keith in the center, flanked by Lance and Pidge, with Allura and Hunk trailing slightly behind.

Pidge opened the intership comm-channel, "Keith, my sensors show that there are least twenty vessels including five dreadnoughts and twelve cruisers."

Keith glanced at Pidge distractedly, his attention focused on scene before him. Unlike the others, he preferred to analyze the tactical situation on his own, without relying on the computer too much. "Any sign of Lotor in the bunch?"

Pidge shook his head. "My sensors can't detect him, but I wouldn't put it past him to be hiding in the middle of the fleet with his cloaking device on."

"Noted." Keith began to issue his orders. "Lance and Hunk, I need you guys to distract them before they start firing on the nearby villages."

In response to his order, the Red Lion and the Yellow Lion increased their speed and flung themselves into the middle of the fleet. Without wasting another second, they began to focus their weapons on the heavily armored Doom ships.

"Lance, don't get cocky!" Keith called after them. He glanced at the other two remaining lions and shrugged, "On second thought, I think I'd better keep an eye on them. Allura. Pidge. The two of you stay here. Don't let them get past you. We've got to stop the momentum of the fleet."

Two helmeted heads nodded in agreement. They settled into defensive positions at the perimeter of the aerial battlefield and waited, discouraging any of the ships from making attack runs on the castle or the outlying countryside.

Keith winced inwardly as he saw that despite their best efforts, the pressure of the Doom fleet allowed them to continue onwards, until they were almost on top of the castle.

Coran slowly pushed himself off the bed in the medical facility.

His weakness made it a difficult task but the shock waves from the energy beams of the Doom cruisers as they fired on the castle walls made it an even more difficult one.

Leaning heavily on the walls, he slowly made his way to Castle Control. A violent blast hit on a nearby section threw him off his feet, but he was unhurt.

Never had the short distance from the medical facility to Castle Control seemed so long.

The prime minister paused at the threshold of Castle Control only to find out that the enlisted rating technician manning it was in over his head. Around him, warning lights flashed while sirens and klaxons ran insistently.

Coran swore fluently and with great fervor as he relieved the young technician from his duties. He sank down into his usual chair, typing the sequence to enable the defensive force shield of the castle as he did so.

Lance watched admiringly as the Black Lion danced through an intricate maze of enemy fire. Keith had a sixth sense the likes of which he had never seen before — the enemy fire couldn't hit him.

He tried to focus on his own maneuvers and soon he was making his usual quota of kills. He polished off the last of the assault group that attacked him and quickly scanned the area.

"Pidge!" Lance's heart stopped as a stray shot from the Castle hit the Green Lion on its right flank. The lion began to spin out of control and plummet to the ground.

He hit his thrusters in a desperate attempt to reach his small friend, but he knew in his heart of hearts that he would be too late. Luckily, Allura had noticed Pidge's plight as well.

She managed to catch the paw of the smaller lion with the mouth of her own. She grunted with effort as she pulled her control yoke upward with all her strength, but the Green Lion continued its downward plunge.

Lance moved in to help her. The Red Lion grasped another paw of the Green Lion in its mouth. He pulled his yoke upwards as well. Together, they managed to slow Pidge's fall.

"Pidge, are you okay?" She examined her friend's face over the comm-channel worriedly and sighed with relief as he nodded and grasped his yoke again.

Assured that Pidge was all right, Keith turned his attention to the battle once more. He watched with disbelief as the Castle's guns fired at a patch of empty sky. He opened a line to the Castle, "What the fuck is going on there?! You're firing on friendlies, Castle Control!"

"My apologies, Voltron Force," a familiar cultured rumble answered and Coran's face appeared on their monitors. "There were some coordination problems but we're over them now."

"Thanks, Coran," Keith said warmly, feeling a burst of confidence wash through him. "You got there just in time, Zarkon just launched one of Haggar's ro-beasts. Can you handle the ships while we handle the big ugly?"

Coran's answering grin was the only answer Keith needed. "Get ready to form Voltron! Activate interlock. Dynotherms connected... Infracells are up and megathrusters are go!"

He watched the familiar transformation sequence begin. The four other lions retracted their legs and positioned themselves around the Black Lion.

He waged an internal debate with himself on whether on not to call out the transformation sequence. It wasn't really necessary — the team could run through the transformation sequence without his audio cues — but he liked routines. They were soothing and helped him focus.

"Form feet and legs! Form arms and torso! And I'll form the head!" Keith leaned forward and grasped his control handles tightly, as the transformation sequence finished. "Let's go Voltron Force!"

The ro-beast stopped and stared at Voltron for a brief moment before launching itself at the giant robot in a blind rush.

Hunk cheered with glee as Keith stepped aside to avoid the ro-beast's charge. "You owe me your dessert tonight, Lance! It only took him point-oh-eight seconds to launch his first attack."

Lance groaned in dismay, swatting at a Doom cruiser that had come a little too close.

The ro-beast growled in rage. It backed up warily, careful not to turn its back to Voltron.

"Hey, it's a minotaur!" Pidge announced with surprise as he studied the ro-beast on his monitor screen. "It's a monster from ancient Terran mythology — half-man, half-bull" he explained further for the benefit of those not as well-read as he was.

"And it's just as dumb as one too, I'll bet." Lance couldn't help but remark even as he anticipated Keith's next command. "Let's see how it likes the Lion Torches."

"And our Stingray Missiles!" Hunk chimed in.

Keith secretly hid a smile as he listened to the friendly banter over the comm-channel with half-an-ear. Despite all their wisecracks, his team was the best there was.

"Save your power for later, guys. We still have to help Coran with the battleships," Keith ordered. "Form blazing sword!"

Lance rolled his eyes but complied nonetheless. The Red Lion head drew closer to the Green one. When they drew apart, Voltron's famous sword was clasped in the Red Lion's mouth.

"Yeehah! Toro time!" Pidge cheered. "Keith — he's up to something. Energy is building up around his horns."

"That shouldn't be too hard to handle," Keith replied as he deftly sliced off the minotaur's horns and followed through by slicing him in half.

The ro-beast glowed white-hot then filled the Arussian sky with a brilliant sunburst of color as it exploded and by the time that the sky cleared, the Doom fleet was in full retreat.


	11. Chapter 10

The next morning dawned bright and clear. The rolling green fields glistened with dew and the lake around the castle sparkled in the luminous light of the golden sun. It was an idyllic scene that filled Keith with an inner peace as he rode across the beautiful land — until he came across the scorched areas burnt by Zarkon's weaponry.

He muttered a virulent curse and urged his horse to a gallop, turning his back on the blackened areas that seemed obscene next to the brilliant patches of color from the wildflowers that grew profusely in the area. "I will never let this happen again," Keith swore to himself, angry beyond words at Zarkon, Lotor and the wanton destruction they had brought to the planet that had become his home.

He rode through the winding country roads until he reached the foot of a small hill overlooking the castle. He slung the reins of his horse onto a low-hanging tree branch and started up the grassy mound towards the solitary grave that lay there.

He had always been intrigued by the way that the Arussians accepted death — as though it were part of the natural circle of life — and not something to fight against — as he would have expected. To be perfectly honest, their attitude disturbed him. He was a man who was intimately familiar with death and he preferred not to let his thoughts linger on his own mortality.

The grave of Allura's mother was blanketed with a wide range of flowers, a quiet but stirring display of devotion. An arrangement of exotic blooms caught his eye and he recognized it as having come the Royal Gardens.

Allura's mother had died many years before their arrival on Arus but he felt a special kinship with her. People loved and respected her, he had been able to garner that, but not many people were willing to talk about how she died. Even the information in the Royal Archives was sparse. From what little he had been able to find out, he knew that she had died protecting her daughter from Zarkon. It was something he knew that he would gladly do.

He crouched down and ran a hand over the carefully tended marble monument that marked the queen's final resting place. And he wished that he had brought flowers to add to the blossoms that decorated her grave.

"Your Highness," he murmured, "we've never met, but I wanted you to know something. I'm marrying your daughter and I promise that I will care for her and protect her until I breathe my last breath."

Nanny dabbed at the corner of her eye with her apron as she watched Keith quietly, touched by his solemn words to her late mistress. Her heart lifted at this private display of devotion.

She cleared her throat hesitantly.

Keith spun around to face her. "Nanny." He bowed slightly in greeting and waited as the old governess shuffled towards him and curtseyed before the grave.

Her next action shocked him. She greeted him with a small curtsey. Allura's beloved governess was more family than servant and she had never deigned to curtsey to anyone other than Coran and Allura.

"I would have a word with you."

Keith inclined his head slightly, encouraging her to go on.

"There are things that I must tell you. My princess is special, more special than you know. By agreeing to marry her, you are taking upon yourself a great responsibility."

Keith nodded, "I know that, Nanny. Please believe me when I tell you that I will protect her with my life."

Nanny shook her head wisely, "I appreciate that but you... you give your loyalty too easily. You have given your loyalty to many — your friends, your family, the Alliance — but Allura needs something that you have never given anyone."

Keith stared at her in confusion, "Nanny, what the blazes are you talking about?"

"Allura is the one. You must protect her so that she can live to fulfill her destiny, but when she does, without something to hold her to us, we may lose her forever," Nanny said bleakly.

"What?!"

A cool voice suddenly filled the morning air. "Do not bother to explain further, Betta. The captain will discover what you mean in time."

"Your Majesty!" Nanny gasped, and dropped into a deep throne-room curtsey.

Keith stared at the newcomer with some trepidation. Your Majesty? He looked down into a pair of familiar blue eyes and swallowed hard, glancing down at the small plaque that marked the grave. "Juliana of Arus?" he offered, weakly.

Delighted feminine laughter was his only response.

"Please forgive me," the newcomer breathed, "No one has mistaken me for my sister in almost a decade."

Keith flushed as he realized whom he was speaking to. He bowed deeply, "Queen Orla. I'm glad to finally meet you."

Orla's eyes sparkled with amusement. "It's alright, Captain. We were never formally introduced when I last visited Arus, during the funeral you orchestrated for my niece. Neither of us was in the mood to exchange pleasantries at that time."

"But still, I apologize for my rudeness. It was just that your appearance was so... sudden... and I didn't hear of any spacecraft entering Arussian airspace."

Orla shook her head and chuckled, "Captain, someday, you will discover that you do not need to know everything. There are times when you must simply go with the flow, as you Terrans say."

Keith shrugged sheepishly. She was right. He did have the tendency to obsess over minute details. It was something that Allura and the rest of the Voltron Force often complained about.

Orla's eyes danced with amusement again at his disgruntled expression. "I cannot keep the portal open for long. I sensed your presence and I wanted to offer you my congratulations on your impending wedding to my niece."

"Thank you." Keith replied.

He turned his head and saw a small eagle appear in the sky, soaring majestically in an exultant celebration of freedom before landing gently on the queen's unprotected arm.

A pair of husky men-at-arms climbed the hill carrying a small chest between them. The men lowered the chest to the ground before the queen, bowed before her and returned the way that they came.

Keith watched their progress curiously. Silhouetted against the bright sunlight as they were, the men were almost impossible to see. Using his hand, he shaded his eyes against the light that was soft and yet intense. Finally, he managed to clear his vision.

The men had disappeared. There was nothing around the hill but his horse, the tree to which he had tied his reins to, and the small carriage Nanny had brought with her.

He stared at the queen bemusedly, waiting impatiently as she gave instructions to Nanny. When she finished, he burst out with the question that refused to be contained. "Where did they go?"

"My men-at-arms? They returned to Cador."

"But I don't understand... They were just here and now... There's nothing there!"

Orla laughed lightly and looked at him with wise eyes, "Just because something cannot be seen or touched, Keith, doesn't mean that it isn't real. That is the first lesson you must learn when you are married to a daughter of Cador."

Keith murmured a polite response, but Orla could see that he didn't understand what she was saying.

Her mouth drew up in another amused smile, "Before I return to Cador, I leave you to ponder on this... You think of yourself as an explorer, but you still do not understand that your journey has just begun... and it is not like any that you have ever undertaken. Your journey will not be one of exploration, it will be one of introspection."


	12. Chapter 11

With the wedding only two days off, Keith sat in his soon-to-be-vacated quarters contemplating the future. Around him were the stacked boxes of personal items that he had accumulated since he had come to Arus.

Keith's hand began to tremble as he packed. The photographs, citations and gifts reminded him of all that he had experienced and all that he had achieved over the last four years. He swore vehemently under his breath, what the hell had he gotten himself into?

He sank down on his bed and closed his eyes. An entire planet was counting on him, not to defend them or save them from an enemy, but to marry their princess, protect her from all harm and secure the line of succession. Images of what he would have to do, what he wanted to do, flashed through his head. His body stirred in response.

There was no doubt about it, a physical relationship with Allura would be immensely satisfying. He had known enough women to know that beauty was one thing, but passion and spirit took everything to the next level...

But it wouldn't be right, an inner voice whispered in his ear. The situation was complicated enough already. Even after four years, they were barely friends. For their marriage to work, they had to have time to get to know each other and make sense of their relationship.

Physical intimacy, he admitted to himself with a pang of regret would complicate things even further. For his sanity, he had to keep his distance. He was confused enough as it was already.

He decided that a drink might help him settle his nerves and reached for the ginger-ale bottle that he kept hidden in his dresser. He had just twisted the cap off when Lance knocked on his door and opened it without waiting for a response.

"Hey Keith. There's someone here who wants to see you."

"Just wanted to see if you needed help with anything, Captain," Jeff entered the room and snapped a jaunty salute.

"Jeff!"

"That's my name. Don't wear it out." Jeff grinned at him.

"What the blazes are you doing here? Did we invite you?"

Lance raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Jeff here is the official representative of the other Voltron Force. Their Voltron is going through regular maintenance and the others had to stay behind to oversee it. We were discussing his impending arrival during dinner, don't you remember?"

Keith grinned and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I guess I wasn't listening. My mind must have been on other things." Suddenly remembering something, he looked up at Lance with alarmed eyes. "Hey, wait a minute. If Jeff's here, then the transport from Terra arrived already and I was supposed to have a package… "

"Don't worry about it," Lance laughed, reaching into his pocket for a small package wrapped in heavy brown paper. "I passed by for it when I went down to pick-up Jeff. Catch!"

"Be careful with that!" Keith yelped as he scrambled off the bed. He caught the package and tore off the wrapper, revealing a black velvet box. "It's Allura's wedding ring. It from my grandmother's favorite jeweler, back on Terra." He opened the box and nodded with approval, "Great. It's exactly what I ordered."

Jeff laughed and wiggled his eyebrows with a bald grin, "Sure, hope you spent a bundle on the ring. I know I would— especially if I was the one getting married to a gorgeous babe like your princess."

Lance controlled the urge to start laughing. He was smart enough to know when it was too dangerous to show amusement and this was definitely one of those times. He shot at glance at Keith and noticed the stormy eyes, carefully controlled expression and the fist clenched at the captain's side.

Jeff knew exactly what buttons to push to make Keith's life miserable — he had years of practice teasing Keith, after all he and Keith had been roommates at the academy. It was a measure of Keith's self-control that Jeff was still alive.

But maybe not for long. Lance noticed with alarm that Keith had set down the ring box and now held a bottle in a club-like grip. He grabbed it from his friend, deciding to remove all weapons from the vicinity. He didn't want to have to explain to Coran and Galaxy Garrison how the commanders of BOTH Voltron Forces managed to meet their untimely demise at each other's hands.

Lance shot Jeff a warning look and launched into another topic to discuss. His gaze fell on the bottle that he held, as if it promised salvation. "Hey Jeff, look at this— Ginger Ale! Boy, that's a blast from the past. It's been years since we graduated from the academy and Keith still keeps his liquor in a ginger-ale bottle!"

Jeff shook his head laughingly. "You shouldn't be surprised, Lance. Camouflage. Standard procedure in Covert Operations, my friend. You should remember that class. Terry the Terror almost flunked you when he found out you were dating his daughter."

"Sour grapes, old man," Lance retorted. "Tullia was gorgeous and you know it. You were just jealous because she turned you down. Besides, it was worth it seeing Terry the T's eyes bug out when you made that little announcement about us when he called you during one of his graded recitations."

Keith found some glasses and began pouring a generous amount of brandy into them, his irritation at Jeff forgotten. "The rest of the class wanted to lynch the two of you though. We barely had time to sleep or eat after Jeff's announcement. Terrance took a special joy in making our lives hell after that."

"I apologize, Sir Galahad, we're not all perfect, noble knights like yourself," Lance snapped back. "At least we gave the rest of the academy something to talk about."

Jeff chuckled wryly, "Lancelot, our class ALWAYS gave the rest of the academy to talk about." He accepted the glass Keith handed him and lifted it in a toast, "And may they never stop talking about the us."

The other two smiled in acknowledgement of the truth in Jeff's words and raised their glasses as well. "To the Black Knights."

They began to reminisce about their escapades at the academy — how much trouble they got into and how many demerits they had to work off. Then, they began to catch up on their adventures with their respective Voltron Forces, laughing uproariously and drinking all the while.


	13. Chapter 12

"Well, what do you think?" Allura made a brief half-turn and back before the mirror. The hundreds of pearls that adorned the square neckline of her wedding gown and the hem of her full skirts gleamed under the light of the chandelier. "Do I do justice to the Daughters of Cador?"

Nanny gazed at her with misty eyes. "You look just like your mother did when she married your father. I am glad that Her Majesty, Queen Orla able to bring your mother's wedding dress through the portal... " She fussed over Allura's skirts for a moment before stepping back and going over to the dresser to get a black leather box. "Here, you should wear this today."

Allura took the proffered box, raised its lid and gasped, "Mother's pearls! I thought they were lost when Zarkon invaded Arus!"

There, on a cushion of black velvet, lay the Tears of Tressylaia, an ancient pearl and diamond set composed of a diadem, necklace and earrings — it had been part of the dowry that Princess Juliana of Cador brought with her when she married the King of Arus over twenty years ago.

"Your father sent them together with the Crown Jewels to Cador for safekeeping when the Evil One attacked. He knew that your mother would have wanted you to wear them on your wedding day. She believed that the pearls were tears of joy— they are supposed to be love charms, you know. " Nanny smiled at the memory.

"Oh Nanny!" Allura exclaimed in a watery voice, "They're so beautiful!" She reached for the necklace with tremulous fingers. "I remember Mother wearing them!"

As Nanny helped her position the diadem on her head, Allura continued. "There was a ball in the castle one night, and because I had been especially good and hadn't argued with either you or Coran— you know how hard that was for me — Mother allowed me to stay up and watch the guests arrive. I don't remember what gown she was wearing, but she wore these pearls."

Allura fastened the necklace around her neck and touched it gently. "You always help me remember her. Thank you for helping me keep her alive, Nanny." she murmured as she turned around to wipe a stray tear from her governess' cheek and embrace her tightly. "Thank you for everything."

Nanny returned the embrace. "Just be happy, Little Princess. That is all the thanks I need."

The normally dark shadows of the Cathedral of Leona were banished by the twenty thousand white candles that illuminated the cathedral. Countless white roses decorated the aisle and altar, while others climbed up the pointed arches and enormous columns, in a striking counterpoint to the glorious jewel-toned windows.

The organ gave forth an expectant note and then the organ music was joined by scores of male voices lifted in triumphant song. The music resonated from the stonewalls, echoing and concentrating with a stunning power that filled the cathedral with its majesty.

Allura waited in a small anteroom by the entrance to the cathedral. She was filled with an odd sense of serenity. Somehow, she knew that she had made the right decision.

In a striking contrast to Allura's calmness, Romelle was fidgeting impatiently. The Polluxian princess was Allura's only attendant — Nanny's small concession to Allura's preference for a small ceremony.

Romelle was peering out of the small anteroom, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sven and the others. An involuntary sigh escaped her lips when she saw them. "Oh, Allura, they look so handsome. Promise me you'll hold more gala balls so that they have to wear their dress uniforms more often."

"Well, why not go out and join them? That way, you can admire them at close range," Allura suggested with a smile. "Nanny has everything under control here. Besides, the procession will be starting soon and someone has to remind Lance and Pidge to behave during the ceremonies."

Romelle gave her cousin an impulsive hug, "I know how you wish Aunt Orla was able to come, but please know that you are surrounded by the people who love you. All we want is for you to be happy and to give us a nephew or niece to spoil!"

The Polluxian princess winked teasingly at her younger cousin and slipped out of the anteroom to join rest of the wedding party — Lance, Hunk, Pidge and Sven — at the entrance to the cathedral.

Allura stood quietly for a few moments more while Nanny clucked her tongue in consternation and made minute adjustments to Allura's veil and train.

An insistent knock on the door signaled the time.

Nanny ignored the signal and continued to fuss with Allura's clothes. She looked up in annoyance as the Prime Minister entered without waiting to be admitted.

Coran pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time with an impatient sigh. "Nanny. If the Princess is ready, it is time for her to make her entrance. The captain and the other members of the Voltron Force have already taken their places by the altar."

Nanny sniffed in disgust and returned to her task. "The Princess will make her entrance when she is ready to make her entrance." She straightened to her full height and glared at the Prime Minister, not at all intimidated by the fact that he was a full foot taller than she was.

"It is her right as a bride to look her best on her wedding day. Let everyone wait! I will not allow you to rob her of this right as you have done so many others, Coran."

Faced with Nanny's ferocity, the Prime Minister had no choice but to stammer a startled apology. He meekly retreated to a corner of the room to watch the proceedings.

There was a flurry of activity as Nanny finally arranged everything to her satisfaction. The governess took a moment to admire her handiwork, dipped into a small curtsey and slipped out of the room to orchestrate the rest of the ceremony.

Alone now with her prime minister, Allura turned to him. He looked austere and gruff. "Should I be nervous, Coran?" she asked softly. "I can not understand why I am not."

"There is nothing to be nervous about, Little Princess. This marriage was meant to be." he said in an oddly hoarse voice.

To Allura's surprise, she discovered that his eyes were moist as he added, "Do you remember when you asked your mother to use her sight to see if you would marry a prince?"

Allura nodded.

"Juliana knew this was going to happen. She told your father and me that you were going to marry one of the five summoned by the roar of the lion," Coran explained.

Her eyes were suddenly misty. "Thank you for telling me that, Coran," Allura smiled at her prime minister.

He nodded gravely, "You are welcome, Your Highness." The prime minister bowed before her and reached for the handle of the door.

"Coran, wait. I have to tell you something." Allura placed a gentle hand on his arm. "When you arranged my marriage to Keith, you gave me something that I wanted more than anything else in the world."

Coran enfolded her in a paternal embrace, "I know how much you love him, Little Princess. I have always known." He smiled at her briefly, and stepped out of the room.

Within seconds, the music died down into suspenseful silence. That was her cue. Allura inhaled sharply and fought a sudden rush of nervousness. She closed her eyes and said a quick prayer before exiting the room.

The cathedral fell silent and the organ swelled to a thundering crescendo that echoed through the soaring church. Thousands of heads swiveled and stare at the Princess as she made her entrance.

Coran felt a burst of paternal pride as he watched her. He had helped played a part in the development of this amazing woman. "Alfor, would that you could be here to see this," he whispered.

Beside him, Nanny wiped a tear from her eye and thought similar thoughts, thinking of the Princess she had followed from Cador. "Oh my lady, Allura is so like you. She has your grace and your spirit. You would be so proud of her."

The scene was magical.

Allura started down the long aisle of the cathedral with her head held high — a fairy princess on her wedding day — while thousands of people stared at her in awed, hushed silence.

Candles flickered to life to light her path. One by one, each person that she passed bowed and curtsied to honor her. Others sank to their knees before her and reached out to touch her gown with reverent hands.

For the people, Allura's ceremonial entrance into the cathedral was a celebration of tradition, just as the wedding ahead was an affirmation of hope and the power of love, despite the turbulence times that they lived in.

Lance shook his head admiringly at the dignity and grace in Allura's carriage. As always, he was stunned by the display of respect that she commanded in other people, not because it was her right as Princess Royal of Arus, but because of her caring, compassion and thirst for life.

Allura paused for a moment to smile warmly at him and the other members of the Force as they bowed before her. "Your roles in the wedding are traditionally reserved for the male relatives of the bride. You guys are the brothers I never had and I love you all."

The happiness glowing on Allura's face as she spoke to them and the unconscious pride etched on Keith's features as his friend watched Allura move through the candlelight caused all of Lance's worries about the wedding to evaporate.

He settled into a parade-rest position and prepared himself for the rituals to come, joining the rest of the crowd in watching the ceremonies with breathless anticipation.

An audible sigh was heard from the crowd as the handsome captain stepped forward to clasp his bride's small hands in his much larger ones. The sight of the tender smile on Keith's face as he greeted his beautiful princess brought handkerchiefs to eyes before the wedding service even began.

The Archbishop of Altair smiled at the captain and the princess benevolently as they took their places before him. He then beckoned Lance and Hunk closer, instructing them to hold the ornate crowns over Allura and Keith's heads.

Finally, when everything had been arranged to his satisfaction, the archbishop nodded at the assembled people gravely and began to chant the ancient words of the marriage rites.

Throughout it all, Allura stood with her hand in Keith's strong reassuring grasp, feeling as she was in a waking dream for most of the ceremony, responding only when she needed to, conscious only of Keith's protective presence beside her.

She was awakened from her daze when Keith knelt before her, unbuckled his sword and offered it to her. "My sword for your protection, my hand for your justice and my life in service of you."

Allura accepted his sword and laid it on the silken cushion that Pidge held. "I accept the sword gratefully and I offer you a better one in exchange."

She closed her eyes and concentrated, calling on the powers that had lain dormant within her for most of her life. Around her, a small breeze played with her veil, but to Pidge's surprise, none of the candles flickered and died.

Coran caught Pidge's questioning look, "Did you think that Alfor was the only one with magical powers? All the members of the royal family have some measure of magical ability. You may have noticed how Allura can light candles without any matches."

"I noticed, but I thought that the candles were chemically treated or something... I know King Alfor had some ability. I suppose it's logical that Allura should have inherited some of his powers..."

Coran smiled and shook his head, "Now, be quiet. She must concentrate on what she is doing so that she can formalize Keith's position as Knight Defender of Arus."

The air stilled as Allura brought her hands together, much in the way that Voltron formed his Blazing Sword and as she pulled her hands apart, a fierce beam of light shimmered and solidified.

Gasps echoed around the cathedral as the shining form of a sword appeared in the princess' hands. Allura allowed herself a small, satisfied smile before offering the sword, hilt first to Keith, keeping her hand on the blade as she did so.

"With this sword, I entrust to you the stewardship of my land and my people. I bid you to care for them as you have cared for me and to love them, as you have loved me."

Keith accepted the sword that she handed him and held it very still. He knew that if he moved, the blade would slice her hand to pieces. When Allura removed her hand from the sword, he held the sword high for everyone to see before sheathing it.

"I accept the sword gratefully and I am honored by what you have conferred on me. I give you this ring as a symbol of my steadfast loyalty, which I owe you both as my sovereign and the lady of my heart.

Turning to Sven, Keith accepted the ring and slipped it onto Allura's finger. He watched with satisfaction as her blue eyes widened in awe at its beauty. It was exquisite work of art— five lions made of colored precious stones chased each other across a white gold band.

The princess looked at Keith wonderingly, forgetting for a brief moment the ancient words that she was supposed to say, until the archbishop cleared his throat noisily.

Hiding her embarrassment, Allura turned to Keith and spoke in a calm and clear voice that carried to the back of the cathedral, "I, Allura Morgaine d'Lyonaisse, Princess Royal of Arus and Daughter of Cador, vow to thee, Keith Alexander Blackwell, my eternal love and my complete obedience."

Her voice faltered only once — when she was promising to obey him — because she had to choke back a giggle when she heard him mutter under his breath, "Yeah, right. That'll be the day."

She shot Keith a quelling glare, which he returned with an innocent smile, although his eyes twinkled with amusement. Allura rolled her eyes and glanced at the rest of the Force out of the corner of her eye.

The crown Lance was holding over Keith's head was shaking dangerously as Lance tried to control his mirth. She had a feeling that the crown Hunk was holding over her own head was shaking as well as she heard a muffled snort from behind her. Sven and Jeff were politely holding in their laughter but Pidge was openly snickering into his hand.

Thankfully though, the Archbishop was used to the oftentimes-strange behavior of the space explorers. He focused his attention on Keith and Allura and continued chanting the ceremony without missing a beat.

After several long minutes, it was finally time for the Archbishop to proclaim them man and wife. His declaration was greeted with a joyful burst of music from the organ and the cheering of the crowd.

Keith raised Allura's veil and lightly touched his mouth to hers.

A collective gasp echoed through the congregation at the sight — kissing in public was almost unheard of in Arus — but it went unnoticed by the newlyweds.

Although tentative and shy, their first kiss affected them deeply. When they lifted their heads, their eyes met and a sense of closeness, of connection pulsed between them.

Their spell was broken by the triumphant blaring of trumpets and the proud voice of the Royal Herald presenting them, "Their Highnesses, Allura, the Princess Royal and her Prince Consort, Keith!"

Allura stifled a smile as she saw Keith's face twitch involuntarily in a grimace when he heard himself addressed as 'His Highness' — she had been wondering what his reaction that would be and it did not disappoint her.

Her crystal-blue eyes twinkled mischievously. Keith watched apprehensively. Over the years he had known her, he had learned that twinkle meant trouble. She was about to do or say something un-princesslike and totally outrageous.

He was right. She broke centuries of tradition and sank into a deep throne-room curtsey before him. She rose gracefully when she heard his reluctant chuckle and grinned back at him with mischievous satisfaction before daintily accepting his proffered arm.

Together, they turned to face the cheering crowd of their people.

Flowers filled the air and parents were lifting their children to see. Pidge jumped up and down in a characteristically exuberant expression of joy, forgetting that Allura's pet Space Mice were catching a ride on his shoulders.

Allura smiled at the terrified expressions on the faces of her mice. Cheezy, Twitter and Cheddar were hanging on to Pidge's shoulders for dear life, expecting to be flung off at any minute.

She turned when she felt Keith nudge her and chuckle out loud. She glanced at him with a question in her eyes and followed the direction of his gaze.

Nanny and Romelle were so moved by the ceremony that they were reduced to tears — each sobbing on a shoulder of a hopelessly flustered Sven, who was trying to comfort them both without much success.

Other people were clapping and shouting their approval. Jeff, Lance and Hunk were beaming proudly at everyone but they stopped and gaped when they saw Coran. To their surprise, the normally reserved and proper Prime Minister had forgotten his dignity and composure and was doing a small little dance of joy.


	14. Chapter 13

The Royal Wedding was the event the entire planet had waiting for years. Everyone, it seemed, had come to the castle to celebrate. Crowds of people were gathered in front of the castle, enjoying the food and drinks that Allura had asked Nanny and her helpers to prepare.

Festivity and happiness worked their way into the heart of every man, woman, and child. The air was alive with the sound of joyous music and the thousands of flags fluttering in the wind.

The cheering rose to a full crescendo as the Prince and the Princess Royal of Arus approached the balcony. A grateful smile drifted across Allura's face when she saw all the flags — some held by people and others fluttering on wooden poles.

The flags were a powerful and moving display of the goodwill of her people. The Arussians believed that to guarantee the blessings of the gods, they had to write their wishes on a flag. The wind, acting as the messenger of the gods, would touch the flags and lift their wishes to the heavens, where the gods lived.

She bowed her head to hide her suddenly misty eyes as she realized something. Without Keith and the rest of the Voltron Force, she would not be standing here waving to her people. She would probably be dead or a slave of Zarkon, as would most of the people gathered on the castle grounds.

The cheers and noise around her began to fade and the volume of her heartbeat increased until it was the only thing she could hear. She blinked and when she opened her eyes, she found herself alone in darkness.

She scanned her surroundings worriedly, trying to figure out where she was, but the only thing she could see was a brilliant red light glowing in the distance. As she walked toward it, the light began to flash a menacing blood red and she heard malevolent laughter ring out through the darkness.

She suddenly felt a familiar touch on her waist. She gasped in alarm and her eyes flew open to find Keith's dark eyes peering at her quizzically.

"Are you alright?" Keith asked quietly. His worry increased as she began to tremble visibly. "Allura, what's wrong?"

She stared at him mutely with eyes filled with terror.

Keith stepped closer and held her trembling form gently. She melted into his embrace and struggled for control, taking courage from his protective presence.

The crowd roared in approval.

"I don't know." she answered when she could finally speak. "I guess I just daydreaming again."

He searched her eyes for a moment, noting the look of fear flashing in her eyes and the pallor of her skin. "What was the dream about?"

Allura shook her head and whispered, "I suddenly found myself in a different place. I was terrified... I don't know where I was but I could sense the... evil... surrounding me."

Keith's eyes narrowed with worry.

Allura smiled weakly up at him, gathered her courage and stepped out of his comforting embrace to face the people of Arus. It was the most difficult thing that she had ever done in her life.

Her thoughts whirled madly in her head. The premonition that she had crystallized her resolve to provide Arus with someone to lead them if something happened to her.

Keith loved Arus as much as she did and she knew without a doubt that save for Coran, there was no one else she would entrust Arus to. She took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. She knew what she had to do.

Allura reached for Keith's arm and drew him forward to stand beside her and said in a voice that was filled with certainty, "My people, behold Keith Alexander Blackwell; Knight Defender of Arus; Commander of the Voltron Force; my husband and friend. Know that when he speaks, he speaks for me. I would that what you do for me, you do for him."

Coran stiffened in shock. Allura had spoken the Words of Investiture. Keith was not just Prince Consort anymore. If anything should happen to Allura, Keith would be the heir to the Lion Throne of Arus.

The Prime Minister's mind was spinning, but his visage did not give a hint of his inner turmoil. Coran had a duty to do and his princess was counting on him to perform it. He took a few steps forward and knelt before Keith.

"Your Highness, I am Coran, Duke of Wenselan. To you, I give this vow: my sword for your protection; my hand for your justice and my life in service of you."

He straightened and studied Allura's face intently, barely noticing as Lance came forward to pledge allegiance to Keith as well. Coran suddenly felt unease rise within him — he had seen that expression before.

It was the same one Juliana always wore when she had seen something – a premonition so strong that it was a certainty — and despite the warmth of the day and the happiness of the hour, Coran shivered, his entire being filled with dread.

Eight hours later, the party still showed no signs of dying down even though the toasts had all been drunk and the newlyweds had already left for their honeymoon.

Lance stifled a yawn. He tried to enjoy the lingering looks the ladies sent in his direction but it was useless — his heart wasn't in it – he was too tired.

Holding the heavy crown of state over Keith's head during the entire ceremony strained his muscles and he barely had the chance to rest during the formal luncheon that followed the ceremony because he had to arrange for security for the public appearance on the balcony of the castle.

As the first officer of the Voltron Force, he had to socialize — a duty he normally relished — but the noise and commotion soon began to grate on his nerves. He slipped away from the party and made his way to the Ready Room, hoping to find some peace and quiet.

He entered the Ready Room only to discover that he wasn't the only one to seek sanctuary there. The normally bright lights of the room were dimmed and the rest of the team – except Sven, who was probably still with Romelle – were already sprawled on the comfortable couches scattered around the room.

Lance passed around the appetizers he had begged from one of the kitchen maids, much to the delight of Hunk. The large space explorer had spent the evening trying to do the same, but the kitchen maids were already immune to his charms.

Pidge busied himself pouring glasses from the bottle of Alanor, the potent Arussian liquor that he had appropriated from the wine cellar — undoubtedly when Nanny's back was turned. Much to Pidge's dismay, after all, if he was old enough to fly a Lion then he was old enough to drink, Nanny refused to allow Pidge to drink alcoholic beverages and left standing orders with the kitchen maids — that Pidge was only to have a choice of milk, juice, iced tea or water.

Lance sat down on his favorite armchair and accepted the glass Pidge passed him. He swirled the glass in his hand, took an appreciative whiff and drank from it, feeling the artificial warmth of the liquor spread within him.

"That's some party back there. It seemed like everyone in the planet was invited." Jeff commented as he leaned back contentedly. After the silence of space, the noise of the planet-wide party was almost deafening.

Pidge laughed. "If you mean the girls, they show up whenever we have a gathering. His Highness has quite a following, you know. The ladies take every chance they can to drool over Keith." The youngest space explorer raised his voice to a high falsetto, "Oooh, I want to see Keith!"

Lance smirked playfully, "Yeah. It was sickening. All those girls were so blindly focused on the Captain that they didn't see the prime example of manhood before them — me!"

"We know, we know... you keep on reminding us, Lance." Hunk said idly, "But what are you doing here then? With Keith gone, I would have thought that your 'manliness' would have been in demand down there. Our feelings won't be hurt if you don't spend time with us, you know. With all the pretty distractions out there — I'm sure you could find something else to occupy your time."

"Keith took me aside before he left and made me promise to behave — no wild flings with the ladies while he was gone— can you believe that?!" Lance snorted in disgust. "I wanted to tell him where he could put his promise but I had just sworn allegiance to him. I mean —"

"SHUT UP, LANCE!" Three voices thundered out in unison.

Lance glared at his teammates — mainly to keep up appearances. He actually wanted some peace and quiet so that he could think — and having to entertain a lady, no matter how pretty she was, would definitely put a crimp in his plans.

He was happy for Keith and Allura. Even though they were forced into marriage, they were right for each other. When they were together, the air around them sparkled with life and vitality. He didn't know how else to explain it, but they seemed to complete each other.

He sighed wistfully. He couldn't help but feel a little envious. He tried hard, but he still hadn't found someone he could feel serious about in the way that Keith was serious about Allura and Sven for Romelle.

Lance sat in silence, occupied with his thoughts, barely noticing as the dark Arussian sky burst into life with showers of dancing light.

"Fireworks instead of explosions; celebrations instead of battles." Pidge mused philosophically, watching a particularly brilliant starburst light up the darkened land. "I hope it's always like this. We've seen enough war."

Lance chuckled cynically, "I doubt it, little Pidgelet. You know how the Doomies are, I wouldn't put it past them to try something to ruin the celebration. I have a gut feeling that they're planning something."

Hunk was studying the swirling lights intently. "You may be more right than you know, Lance. See that light over there? If I didn't know any better, I'd think..."

Jeff nodded; he had noticed the same thing as well. "Yeah. I don't think it's one of the fireworks. I may not have gotten an A in Physics like Sven and Keith, but even I know that fireworks have to burn up at some point as they fall."

"Damn. I hate it when I'm right," Lance said grimly, pushing aside his depression as he stood up. "Okay guys, it looks like we have some work to do. Let's go welcome our uninvited guests."


	15. Chapter 14

The Voltron Force burst into the Control Room. Pidge flung himself into the Command Chair and began to furiously type commands into the console.

"Lance, report." Coran managed to gasp out as he ran into the control room scant seconds later. Lance noticed with some concern that the Prime Minister was holding his hand to his chest and trying to catch his breath.

"Incoming bogey. It was trying to mask its approach by using the cover of the fireworks, but Hunk and Jeff noticed its descent. We couldn't tell what it was."

"Readings say it's a Coffin of Death. I'm putting it up on the big screen now!" Pidge announced in clipped tones, as the main monitor in Castle Control flickered and was filled with the image of an open ship with its menacing occupant heading towards the Castle.

"Okay. Quick intelligence rundown," Lance began to brief Jeff, "Zarkon uses Coffins as infiltration craft. Coffins of Doom transport people and Coffins of Death transport micronized ro-beasts."

Pidge got up from his seat and offered it to Coran, continuing the briefing when Lance paused for breath. "Coffins can only travel short distances — like from Arus to its moon — so the presence of a coffin means that there's a fleet nearby. That means that Zarkon's troops are probably on their way here now —"

"But Arus has a long-standing tradition of hospitality. The Princess wouldn't like it if we didn't welcome visitors to her planet properly,"

Lance signaled Coran to activate the transit system and ran for his Lion portal. "That's the reason why we always try to give Zarkon's troops a welcome that they'll never forget."

"Okay. Here's the plan." Lance effortlessly took charge of the situation, triggering a videoconference between the Lions and Coran in Castle Control. "Coran, the party's over. Get the guards to usher the people inside the Castle where they'll be safe. We're going to greet our uninvited guests and make them feel at home."

Jeff and Sven exchanged amused glances. This was a side of Lance that they hadn't expected to see but were glad that they did. Neither of them wanted to assume command even though they both outranked Lance. Although they had seniority, neither of them was as familiar with the situation or the Lions as Lance was, which made him, in Keith's absence, the best person to lead the team.

"Hunk and Sven, let's go play with our guest. We have to keep him away from the castle and other populated areas. He might want to play rough though, so don't let your guard down." Lance snapped out his orders in a clipped voice. "Pidge, run a sensor scan and try to find out what frequencies Lotor is using. I want to break into their comm-system later."

Lance realized what he had done the moment he shut his mouth and shuddered with revulsion. He sounded just like Keith! He glanced furtively at his monitors and prayed that the others were too distracted to notice.

He groaned audibly at the reactions he saw in his monitor. It DEFINITELY wasn't his lucky day — the rest of the team had noticed and everyone was expressing various degrees of amusement.

Pidge assumed a mock-concerned expression, "Lance, are you okay in there? For a second, I was sure that Keith was flying the Red Lion. But then I thought, that's impossible. Keith is on his honeymoon and Lance flies the Red Lion."

Lance shot his small friend a look that promised retribution and studiously set about ignoring him. "Jeff, hang back and stay with the Pidgelet. The orbiting fleet will send down a cruiser to energize the ro-beast. The two of you have to shoot down that ship BEFORE it gets to the ro-beast."

He glanced at the rest of the team, with a hint of his normal deviltry. "And if no one has any further questions or constructive remarks, we've got someone to welcome. Rock and roll, guys. It's time to party!"

Without waiting for any acknowledgement, he increased the speed of his lion and dived at the ro-beast. Hunk and Sven formed up on either side of him and they began their attack run.

Jeff spared a second to watch the Lions in action. He nodded his head in professional admiration. Keith had trained his team well. The Red, Yellow and Blue Lions swooped in with supreme confidence despite the heavy fire provided by the approaching fleet.

He jumped into the fray, triggering the weapon systems of the Black Lion and destroying a few smaller cruisers. Beside him, Pidge was doing the same, twisting and dodging as missiles exploded and lasers blasted around him.

Jeff searched the skies until he spotted it — the command ship. It was the largest ship there and it was protected by a number of the smaller attack ships. In his distraction, he didn't notice that a cruiser had a lock on him and jumped when an explosion suddenly blossomed right beside him.

"You okay there, Jeff?" Pidge's concerned face appeared in the view screen of the Black Lion, the image wavering as the youngest space explorer twisted his controls to avoid being caught in the explosions around him.

Jeff nodded casually. Although he was rattled by his close calls, the fighter pilot tradition bred into them by the Academy would not allow such a display of emotion. "I'm okay. This baby is a bit larger than my Strato Fighter."

"Okay, but just be careful. These kittens have some quirks of their own," Pidge warned him, doing a loop-the-loop that brought him behind a cruiser that was shadowing his trail and firing his Lion Claw missiles.

"I'm going for the command ship. Cover me." Jeff spoke with a familiar note of command that had Pidge obeying him instantly. Jeff deftly maneuvered through the intricate cobweb of lasers and missiles until he reached his objective.

Pidge, skimming along behind Jeff, whistled in admiration at the moves he was putting the Lion through. Keith was the best pilot that he had ever flown with, but Jeff was a close second — no wonder that the two Voltron Commanders competed neck-to-neck in the Academy.

The young space explorer fired his Lion Torch at some attack ships and triggered the comm-channel, "Jeff, that's Lotor's command ship. He's probably going to focus on you, thinking that you're Keith..."

Pidge threw the Green Lion in a sudden climb to evade some attackers and continued without missing a beat, "Lotor has... designs... on the Princess, you know, and Keith has foiled all of his plans, to date."

"Noted. Any suggestions? What do you guys normally do with him?" Jeff asked as he dodged a series of missiles and let loose his some of his own. The Black Lion's proton missiles unerringly hit their targets, giving Jeff a little breathing room.

Pidge chuckled, firing his Ion Darts at a cruiser that was getting a little too close for comfort. "Irritate him and taunt him until he gets pissed enough to launch a ro-beast. Form Voltron, kill ro-beast, chase him out of Arus airspace. He should be familiar with the routine already. God knows, we've run through it often enough."

Jeff shrugged, "Well, I guess the wedding irritated him enough and he's already launched the ro-beast. Let's join the others and work on the rest." He led Pidge in a steep dive and met Lance and the others as they climbed up to join them.

"Great. We were coming to get you guys," Lance's voice rang out over the communications channel. "Jeff — this Voltron has only five parts and can stay volted in for more than five minutes. Think you can adjust to it?"

Jeff snorted in disgust and began to run through the activation sequence that was as familiar to him as breathing. "Ready to form Voltron. Activate Interlocks. Dynotherms connected. Infracells up. Megathrusters are go." The Black Lion led the team in a steep vertical climb as they lined up in v-formation.

On board the Doom ships, the soldiers covered their eyes as a flash of light signaled the formation of the mighty robot. When they opened their eyes, they froze in awe and fear. The blipping of their radio and Lotor's furious voice roused them from their stupor. They began to attack Voltron in earnest.

"Lion Torches!" Hunk and Sven began to fire their weapons at the attack ships, hitting their targets with outstanding accuracy. Lance and Pidge swung their Lions around, swatting and biting the attack ships that swarmed around Voltron like bloodthirsty mosquitoes.

Lance triggered the comm-channel, noticing that Lotor's command ship had managed to break free of the battle and energize the ro-beast. "Let's go after the ro-beast before he starts attacking the towns. Jeff, form the Blazing Sword and take it from there."

Jeff nodded and echoed Lance's words, "Form Blazing Sword." The Red and Green Lion heads came together and as they pulled apart, a beam of light formed and slowly solidified.

The ro-beast jumped up with an enraged roar and charged at Voltron. Jeff waited until the last minute, then ducked. The ro-beast couldn't react in time. Jeff struck quickly, cutting it cleanly in two. The ro-beast exploded in a burst of light and sound and ceased to be.

In his command ship, Lotor's face tightened in a characteristic show of temper and frustration. He began to pace. Beaten by Voltron again! How was he going to explain his defeat to his father? He didn't realize that he had spoken out loud until a brash voice answered him.

"The same way you normally do, I suppose. God knows, you should have enough practice by now!"

Lotor whirled around; ready to kill whomever it was who had spoken to him so disrespectfully, only to find Lance's face grinning at him from the main view screen of his ship.

"Good evening, Your Highness!" Lance's voice rang out loud and strong over the speakers. "I'm sorry that you were late for the reception. His Highness, Captain Keith was expecting you but he had to leave for his honeymoon. I'm afraid you'll have to settle for us."

Lotor's hand tightened on the grip of his sword.

"I know, I know," Lance laughed. "It's horribly impolite, but well, what can you say? You know how newlyweds are. You were once one yourself, right? Their Royal Highnesses are young and in love. They couldn't wait to be alone."

Lotor sent a murderous glare in Lance's direction.

"Anyway, let's get down to business," Lance continued cheerfully, "You have thirty seconds to retreat from Arussian airspace. I'm preparing to send you some goodies from the reception which I'm sure that you will enjoy." With that, Lance triggered the weapons systems of the Red Lion, aimed all his weapons at the Lotor's command ship and began to whistle a merry tune.

Jeff's eyebrows drew together — that tune sounded familiar. Where had he heard it before?

Lotor snarled deep in his throat and nodded to the helmsman of his ship. The man wordlessly triggered the ignition systems and set a course for Planet Doom.

For once, the Prince of Doom had perfect timing. Barely had Lotor left Arussian airspace when Jeff burst out laughing. He knew what Lance was whistling — an old Broadway tune called "I wonder what the King is doing tonight."


	16. Chapter 15

It was well past midnight when they boarded the ship that Galaxy Garrison had sent to transport them on the wedding trip. Allura noted with some trepidation that the officers and crew were lined up to welcome them. She glanced at her new husband, desperately hoping that they wouldn't have to endure any further formalities.

Keith smiled down at her. "Tired?"

"A little," she admitted. "But you don't look tired at all," she complained as she eyed his appearance with envy. . His formal uniform was in perfect condition and beside him, she felt like a wilted daisy. It was almost annoying considering how Keith had been wearing his uniform all day and that she had changed out of her gown into a less formal dress more appropriate for travel.

"I'm lucky enough to be one of those people who don't need a lot of sleep. Why do you think I call practices at 4 in the morning?" Keith retorted.

Allura tried to find the energy to formulate a reply but before she could do so, a group of officers approached them, led by a man she assumed to be the captain of the ship.

"Your Royal Highnesses." The captain offered them a smart salute. "Welcome aboard the Galaxy Alliance's Starship Explorer. My crew and I are honored to be of service to you."

"Thank you," Allura smiled as enthusiastically as possible under the circumstances. The captain looked vaguely familiar, but in her exhaustion, she couldn't quite remember when she had seen him before. She swallowed a yawn as Keith and the captain exchanged pleasantries and allowed her thoughts to drift off.

Keith glanced down at her and smiled sympathetically. Allura was about to fall asleep on her feet. He laid a supportive arm across her shoulders and pulled her close.

He greeted the sandy-haired man before him. "Captain Newley. It's good to see you again. Aren't you tired to ferrying around the Voltron Force? If it's not members of the Vehicle team, it's the members of the other."

Newley chuckled appreciatively. "Well, to be perfectly honest, my crew would have mutinied if I didn't volunteer the Explorer for this. A lot of them are star struck, you know. They were disappointed that they weren't able to meet you when the two teams last joined forces."

Keith nodded politely, "I can't imagine why they'd want to meet me, but I know that Allura has her share of admirers. Perhaps you could arrange a tour for us after we've rested a bit."

After exchanging pleasantries with a few more officers, he cut short the greetings from the rest of the crew and asked Captain Newley to escort them to their quarters.

Keith opened the door to the salon of the enormous suite assigned to them and indicated one of the bedrooms opening off from it. "This is your stateroom. Nanny had some of your maids bring your things here"

Allura forced herself to focus on her surroundings as Keith guided her through the open door. The spacious cabin was opulent and luxurious. She blinked as she noticed the familiar objects scattered around it.

Her silver-backed brush and comb were on the dressing table along with her favourite rose-scented perfume and the bed had been turned down. Her colour rose as she noticed the sheer white gown and peignoir arranged across it.

Keith stared at the nightgown. It didn't take much effort for him to imagine it on Allura. He swallowed hard and released her hand, tugging at his uniform collar and opening the top button of his shirt.

"I'll leave you now so you can get some rest. Get some rest, Princess. You need it." He gestured towards a door on the opposite side of the salon. "I'll be right over there if you need me for anything." Without waiting for a response from her, he hurried out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Allura stared at closed door in bemusement. She was exhausted but she was also oddly disappointed by Keith's hurried, almost brusque goodnight. This was after all, the first night of their marriage. It would have seemed more fitting to relax together in the salon.

She shook her head in confusion and began getting ready for bed. She stripped off her dress and put on the nightgown that Nanny had selected for her before crawling beneath the covers.

Married. She looked down at her hand and stared at the shining white gold band that proclaimed her new state. Too tired to think about it any further, she reached for a pillow and closed her eyes. But as was often the case when her exhaustion set in, Allura's mind refused to release its grip on consciousness. She lay wide awake for over an hour, trying to lull herself to sleep by listening to the soothing hum of the ship's engines before she finally got out of bed.

She put on the robe and went to the door, waiting as it swooshed open automatically. She stepped into the sitting room and looked around with interest. She had been so exhausted that she had barely noticed her surroundings earlier when Keith ushered her into her bedroom.

The salon was furnished in shades of blue and white. Comfortable overstuffed chairs were strategically placed alongside the huge picture windows that displayed a breathtaking view of the emptiness of space.

Keith was sprawled in one with his uniform jacket off and shirtsleeves rolled up. As she watched, he rubbed the back of his neck and laid his head back against the back of the chair.

Her heart went out to him. He looked so lonely. His features were heavy with doubt and a strange confusion that she empathized with. She stepped further into the room.

Keith's head came up with a jerk. "I thought you would be asleep," he said curtly as he erased all traces of emotion from his features and got to his feet.

"I tried, but I couldn't sleep," she shrugged, curling herself up in one of the comfortable overstuffed armchairs scattered around the room. "Too keyed up, I guess. "

"Would you like something to drink? Nanny supplied us with some Alanor. Would you like some?"

She shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm afraid I don't have much tolerance for alcoholic beverages, but I would like something to eat, if you could arrange for that."

Keith nodded and crossed to the replicator in the corner of the cabin. "Any preferences?"

She shook her head in response to his question and hugged her knees to her chest.

Keith thought for a short while. "How about some Terran cuisine?" He pressed a few buttons on the control panel of the replicator. "Two cheeseburgers with fries on the side, and two sodas coming right up."

A moment later, the replicator complied with Keith's requests. He removed the plates from the machine and handed them to Allura before returning to get the drinks.

"So," Keith began, "since when have you been able to form the Blazing Sword?"

"Oh, that," Allura smiled and took a cautious bite from her burger. "Umm... This is wonderful! How come you guys never let me taste this before?"

"Because Nanny threatened us with her broom, if we so much as set a foot in her kitchen," Keith muttered wryly as he sank down into his chair. "But stop changing the subject, since when have you been able to form the Blazing Sword?"

"Honestly?" Allura asked, "I've never done it before." She took another bite of her burger, chewed and swallowed before continuing, "It's supposed to be one of the first magical skills learned by a princess of Arus, but..."

"But?" Keith asked as her voice trailed off.

Allura set aside her burger, all enjoyment of it forgotten and looked up at him, "I'm not a REAL princess of Arus."

"What!?"

Suddenly realizing what she said and how Keith had drawn the wrong conclusions, she began to explain, "Let me tell you a story. Once, long, long ago, a faerie queen fell in love with a prince of Arus. The prince was handsome and beloved by his people. The queen, on the other hand, was wise and beautiful beyond all words."

"They loved each other and pledged their troth, but their love was not meant to be. He was human, while she was fae. Faerie law prohibited relations between fae and human, and even the queen could not change it."

Allura's voice grew stronger as she was caught up in the telling of the tale, "They were forced to part, but she never left him. The queen loved her prince more than the sun and the moon and the stars and the rain. She would watch over him from her palace in the realm of the fae, even though he never knew that she was there.

"She was with him when he learned of the new threat to his father's kingdom. A brutal enemy threatened Arus, and the prince had no choice but to fight, even though he hated blood and warfare. The prince fought bravely, but the enemy was treacherous. The prince was disarmed and his sword was broken into two.

"The queen's heart leapt in her throat and she begged her advisors to allow her to return to Arus. Seeing the despair written in her eyes, they agreed to let her go, but only after exacting a heavy price — that she give up her powers and her kingdom.

"The sky thundered and the sea thrashed, and the queen fought like a warrior gone wild as she used her waning power to reach her prince. When she reached him, she fashioned an enchanted sword with what little power she had left, so that he could defend himself against the evil warlord."

Keith watched his wife quietly, listening not to her words, but to the musical lilt of her voice. He felt the familiar stirring of desire and an unfamiliar wave of tenderness wash through him. If he closed his eyes, he could see her telling this story to their children. A boy with his dark hair and her eyes, and a little girl with her mother's golden curls and brilliant smile.

Children. It was one of the things he had always dreamed of having and it was also something that he thought he could never have. But first, he they had to make them. He felt his body harden at the thought and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "This is not going to be easy," he muttered to himself in a savage undertone.

"Excuse me?"

Keith blinked noticing that Allura had finished her story and was looking at him with a question in her eyes. "Umm... I said... once a fairy, always a fairy. Some of her power probably remained with her, although it probably wasn't as strong as she was used to."

Allura shot him a puzzled look. She didn't think that what he said sounded like that, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Anyway, that's the story behind the offering of the sword."

Keith pulled himself together, "So, is there something about you that I should know about? Are you going to start cackling and tossing apples into a iron pot?"

"Probably not," Allura replied, with a slight smile. "You don't have to worry about me doing a Haggar on you. I do have some ability, but compared to my mother and father, all I can do is parlor tricks."

"Your mother? I know that your father had some magical talent, but did she have powers as well?"

"Mother was a daughter of Cador." Allura said simply, as though that explained it all.

Keith learned back and took a bite of his hamburger, wincing in disgust. There was nothing worse than a cold hamburger, especially when it was soggy with ketchup. He set it aside. "Explain."

"The daughters of the House of Cador are renowned for their magical talent. For example, my mother is — was — a seer just like her mother was." She smiled and shrugged self-deprecatingly, "My lack of ability was a disappointment to everyone."

Keith shot her a curious look and reached for some chips.

"My grandparents arranged the marriage of my parents to each other hoping that their union would produce children whose abilities were so strong that they could neutralize the menace that Haggar had become."

"So it goes back to the forces of Doom." Keith whistled.

Allura nodded "Yes, it does." She shook her head sadly and turned to look out at the ever-changing vista of space, filled with a sudden sense of foreboding. "Mother would call Doom my destiny."


	17. Chapter 16

"Allura?" Keith paused outside the door to Allura's bedroom and knocked. "Are you decent?" He cautiously opened the door and peeked in. He couldn't help but smile at what he saw.

Allura was still asleep.

He crept into the room and allowed himself the luxury of watching her sleep for a long moment. Curled up under the blankets, with her golden hair tumbling free, Allura looked like an innocent little girl. She radiated life — glowing, pure and exuberant.

He reached out and touched her cheek in a gentle caress. When he realized what he was doing, he jerked his hand back, as though touching her had burned him.

Allura stirred and snuggled more deeply into her pillow. Luckily for him, she did not awaken, although a faint smile played around her mouth at his touch.

Keith exhaled the breath he didn't know he was holding in a sigh of relief. Enough was enough. He had to get her up and it didn't seem proper for him to be standing around watching her while she slept.

He sat down on the bed.

"Hmmm." Allura grumbled in protest from beneath a mound of blankets, as she felt the bed shift beneath her. She burrowed further into her cocoon and hugged her pillow closer to her.

Keith smiled in gentle amusement. She looked so peaceful lying there that he was tempted to let her sleep a little more. But he knew that he had to wake her up. He shook her shoulder. "Princess, it's time to get up."

Allura threw the blankets over her head. "I'll be up in five minutes, promise."

Keith grinned tenderly and shook his head. "Sorry. That doesn't work on me anymore. Hunk and Pidge have tried that stunt on me once too often." He gently tugged off the blankets that covered her sleepy form.

Allura moaned in protest and tried to grab her disappearing blankets.

Keith's mouth went dry. He should have been prepared for this, but he wasn't. Allura was wearing the sheer white nightgown that he had seen the night before — without the matching robe to cover it.

His eyes traveled over her involuntarily, even though he felt like a voyeur taking advantage of her sleepy state. Her nightgown didn't hide anything at all, in fact, it highlighted her numerous assets.

He cleared his throat and glanced around the room, unable to erase Allura's image from his mind's eye. She was slender, but her breasts were surprisingly full, her waist tiny, and her legs were long and shapely.

Catching sight of Allura's robe lying discarded at the foot of the bed, he reached for it like a man reaching for salvation. "Umm... Here. It's a bit chilly today. Maybe you'd should put this on."

"Thank you." Allura accepted it and put it on, stifling a yawn and stretching as she did so, much to Keith's discomfort. She sat up in bed and hugged her knees to her chest. "What are our plans for today?"

"We're meeting Captain Newley on the bridge in an hour. He's invited us to lunch," Keith paused on his way out the door. "I'm just going to go take another cold shower and dress up."

"Captain Newley," Allura greeted the Captain with a gracious smile as she entered the Explorer Bridge with Keith at her side. "Thank you very much for agreeing to transport us to Terra and back. We appreciate your generosity."

Robert Newley smiled, charmed by Allura's brilliant smile and sparkling eyes. "The pleasure is ours, Your Highness. As I told your husband yesterday, my crew is looking forward to meeting you."

Keith laughed quietly as he watched the normally dour captain fall under his wife's spell. "Allura has never been on a starship like this, Robert. If you're not too busy, maybe you could show us around now?"

Flattered by their interest in his ship, Captain Newley agreed. "Of course, Keith. I mean... Your Highness."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Please, Robert. We've known each other for years. I just added another title to my name, so I'd really appreciate it if you could forget about the Your Highness routine and just call me Keith."

"Of course, Your... Keith," Robert Newley replied.

Keith smiled politely, but his eyes glinted with worry. Despite his confident words to Newley, he knew that something had changed and that people were going to start treating him differently again.

The SS Explorer was a grand old ship. Keith mused as Robert Newley took them around to all the sections of the ship and introduced them to the men and women who served on it.

There were quite a number of them — scientists, space explorers, command staff. After having spent years on Arus and its wide-open spaces, he was amazed by how everyone could manage to exist in such close proximity to each other without going insane.

He couldn't imagine why he had once wanted a life like this.

He had been in such a hurry to go places and do things. The promise of adventure appealed to him, as had the excitement of exploring new worlds. It was why he had chosen to specialize in Far Universe Operations in the Space Exploration Corps instead of Garrison Command Section that his instructors had urged him to join.

Life on board a starship had been fascinating experience. For the first time in his life, he had been completely free. A starship was a world on its own – a place where family connections didn't matter. All that mattered was getting the job done, or at least, it was all that mattered until he had gotten senior enough to merit his own strategic command.

His aversion to the political environment that a strategic commander operated in was one of the reasons he had chosen to command the Lion Force instead of Hawkins' job as strategic commander of the Vehicle Voltron Team when both positions were offered to him.

Hawkins' job promised more career advancement, but it also meant being grounded permanently and being bound closely to Galaxy Garrison. He would also have to endure the constant comparisons to his illustrious grandfather.

The Lion Force seemed like the perfect solution at the time. If he took it, he would be the senior ranking officer in the Diamond Galaxy, with minimal interference from the pencil-pushing bureaucrats at Galaxy Garrison.

He had jumped at the chance, even though it meant that his rank would be frozen at Captain until it was time for him to return to Terra and to the next posting Galaxy Garrison assigned him to.

Suddenly, Keith realized that Terra wasn't home anymore. For several years already, home had been the towering spires of the Castle of Lions on Arus, where the pristine beauty and simple lifestyle calmed the restlessness in his soul.

The tour ended at the space lounge where the Vehicle Team spent their off-duty hours and sat at a table near one of the huge picture windows where they could watch the stars.

Allura's eyes sparkled with fascination, as an ungainly robot with a baseball cap perched on his head appeared to take their orders. "Greetings, Your Highnesses, Captain Newley. In honor of your presence today, Sammy has prepared his Special Surprise. I hope that you enjoy it. He has been preparing it since this morning."

Newley blanched. Special Surprise? Sammy's dishes were never very predictable - his cuisine could best be described as Greasy Spoon - and he didn't want to cause a diplomatic incident by accidentally poisoning the Princess Royal of Arus on her wedding trip.

Newley nodded weakly, "No thanks, Hardware. I'm not very hungry today." He mentally began to prepare his statement to Space Marshal Graham about the incident and tried to swallow the unease that rose within him.

All of Captain Newley's fears were for nothing. Sammy had surpassed himself. Sammy's Special Surprise was actually a delicious stew, the likes of which he had never tasted onboard the Explorer.

He sighed in satisfaction and turned to Keith, murmuring in a low undertone. "You know, Sammy isn't that bad a cook after all. At least now I know what to order when I want to eat well."

"I heard Allura offer to send Sammy some of Nanny's recipes," Keith answered, with a grin of his own. The inedible food on the Explorer was legendary in the Space Explaration Corps. "You can surprise Hawkins and the others with some edible food during your next staff meeting."

Newley laughed, "Well, that shouldn't be long from now." He glanced at his chronograph, "We should make Terran orbit in approximately one hour. Hawkins is due to board shortly after that."

Keith smiled politely, "I guess Allura and I should go pack then." He turned and tried to catch Allura's eye so that he could signal his desire to return to their quarters.

Allura was engaged in what appeared to be a stimulating conversation with Professor Page, the chief scientist of the Explorer. He was attempting to explain why Vehicle team could not form Voltron for more than five minutes.

He doubted that Allura could understand anything that the scientist was saying — she had never sat through a single lecture on engineering and robotics in her entire life — but she looked fascinated nonetheless.

He found himself once again impressed by her chameleon like ability to adapt instantly to her surroundings and wished that he had the same talent.

As though sensing his desire to speak with her, Allura's eyes sought his out. She broke off her conversation with the scientist and turned to Keith, with a question in her crystal-like blue eyes.

"We should go pack now. Robert says that we should make orbit in an hour," Keith explained in a low voice. Allura nodded and laid a gentle hand on his arm.

Keith stood and snapped a brief salute at Captain Newley and Professor Page. "Thank you very much for the dinner and our compliments to the chef. We appreciate all the hospitality you've shown us and we hope you will visit us on Arus so that we can return the favor."


	18. Chapter 17

Technology had simplified things substantially since the early days of space travel, but some traditions had to be observed, especially when VIPs insisted on flying their own ships, Keith mused cynically as he watched the frantic last-minute launch preparations.

Technicians scurried across the shuttle-docking bay, running crucial last minute checks on the shuttle's propulsion and guidance system. On the bridge, the Explorer command crew calculated and re-calculated the final course trajectory.

Keith helped Allura into her seat and fastened her seatbelt for her before taking his own seat and running through his own pre-launch preparations.

Coran had assigned him the prototype of the latest generation of Arussian fighters as his personal ship. It was an amazing piece of machinery. It looked peaceful, but its sleekness was deceptive. It had more speed and more power than any ship he had ever flown — except of course, for the Lions.

He watched the readouts flash across monitor screens with a critical eye. He opened a communications link to the bridge, "Calculations for orbital fluctuations received and acknowledged."

Robert Newley's voice came through the comm-link. "Altaire, this is the bridge. Please confirm launch status."

"Bridge, this is Altaire. All systems are go."

"Alright then Altaire. It's been a pleasure flying with you. Your escort is on its way already. They'll meet up with you as soon as you launch."

"Thanks, Bridge. We'll see you in a while." Keith thumbed his yoke and eased the Altaire out of the docking bay into the familiar blackness of space.

A formation of fourteen ships met them as soon as they left the docking bay. One ship proceeded to dock with the Explorer, but the other ships spun around and surrounded them.

A heavily accented voice rang out through the ship's communication system. "Vehicle Team Escort reporting as ordered, Your Highness!"

Keith shook his head in response and triggered the group channel on his console. Fourteen young faces appeared on small insets on his monitor. "It's still just Keith, Cliff. Allura's the only one who answers to Your Highness."

Allura laughed lightly. "Keith hasn't gotten used to the court formality yet," she explained, shooting her husband a teasing glance. "But if you need to call his attention, he also responds to slave-driver too."

The sound of laughter and a few sympathetic groans filled the comm-channel. The Vehicle Team remembered only too well the hell Keith had put them through during the days at the Academy and at Voltron Training Camp organized for the members of both Forces.

Keith glanced at his flashing readouts on his monitor. "We'll be entering Terran atmosphere in about 5 seconds, guys, so we're going to lose communications for a few minutes. Allura and I are going to sign off until then."

He switched off the comm-channel. "This fighter isn't as heavily shielded as our lions. We'll have to shunt power to the shield systems."

Allura nodded and began to tap out commands on her control panel. "Okay. I'm diverting power from the weapons system to the shield systems. Shield strength is at 150%. Is that enough?"

Keith looked up from the reports he was studying. "According to Pidge's calculations it should be. But try to increase the percentage to at least 175 just to make sure."

"Okay." Allura's hands danced over her controls once again, even as her thoughts roamed freely. "By the way, I always meant to ask you this. Where are we staying?"

"In the condominium I inherited from my grandparents," Keith replied, making some adjustments of his own to the re-entry trajectory. "The security measures there are first class."

Catching the distressed look Allura shot him, he continued smoothly, "But more importantly. I it's got a great view of the city and we can do some sightseeing while we're there."

"You almost had me there," Allura chuckled wryly. "But you can't blame me. Choosing a place because of its security is something you would do." She flipped a few switches and glanced down at her control panel again. "Keith — Shield power at 185%."

 **After entering Terra's atmosphere, they separated from their escorts just before reaching Garrison City. City regulations prohibited military vehicles from flying over heavily populated areas.**

The Vehicle Team banked their ships and streaked off towards their temporary base at the Galactic Academy, while the Altaire continued towards the tall building where Keith's condominium was.

"Plaza, this is Altaire. Authorization code is Kappa Alpha Beta 8061973. We're going to be landing."

"Acknowledged, Altaire. Please provide us with your secondary access codes."

Keith tapped out a set of commands on the handheld computer he held, explaining to Allura, "You have to compute the secondary access codes every time you land based on a special algorithm." He opened the communication channel again. "Plaza, secondary access code is Gamma Sigma Epsilon 7258105. You can commence with the retina scan now too."

"Acknowledged, Captain Blackwell. Welcome back to Earth."

"Thank you, Plaza, it's good to be back." Keith replied as he gently set the Altaire down on the roof deck-landing pad. He taxied the ship over to a huge elevator and waited as the elevator brought them to an indoor hanger.

 **The condominium that Keith mentioned so casually was actually a huge suite in a plush residential complex famous for the privacy, exclusivity and luxury it offered its occupants. Allura had been amazed to find out that Keith's neighbors included several high ranking diplomats and the anchorman of Coran's favorite news show,**

He whirled her in, and by the time she had freshened up, he was waiting impatiently so that they could go out again. "Come on, Princess. Today may be the only day that we have for ourselves, so let's make the most of it."

He ushered her into the private elevator that took them to the opulent lobby with its sparkling crystal chandeliers and Persian carpets and whisked her out again into the busy street where they were greeted by the almost violent noise of traffic.

Allura was dazzled. She tried to look everywhere at once. Her head spun as she took in the glittering offerings displayed in shop after shop, and the towering buildings that speared up everywhere and turned the streets into canyons.

"There are so many people!" Allura commented breathlessly, watching the people rush away on their own business, taking great pains not to meet each other's eyes. She watched a woman dash by, with her legs flashing under a short shimmering silk skirt that barely met her thighs.

She tried not to stare as a man in baggy clothing sauntered by. She marveled at the look of supreme confidence on his face. It was quite a feat for someone whose clothes were at least five sizes too big and whose hair was dyed in seven different colors.

Allura glanced at Keith with wide eyes.

"Terrans believe in self-expression," he explained with a small chuckle as he inclined his head almost imperceptibly to the right. "Besides, if you thought that was strange, take a look at that woman."

Allura couldn't help it. She gawked. It seemed like every square inch of the woman's body was covered with tattoos, a fact that was revealed in great detail by her skimpy attire.

"Don't forget to notice that she's wearing five earrings in each ear, a nose ring, a belly button ring, and a tongue stud." Keith said in a low undertone. "And I'm willing to bet that she has more piercings in places we can't see."

"Where?" Allura asked innocently before her eyes grew even wider. " **Really?** "

Keith grinned at her, charmed by her honest reactions.

"And Nanny thinks that most of my clothes are indecent enough already... I wonder what she'd think if I came back from our vacation wearing something like that. I have a few extra earrings in my closet and—"

"Don't you dare!" Keith laughed, horrified at the thought. "If Nanny sees you with a few extra holes in your ear, she's probably going to make sure that I have a few extra holes in my head."

Allura's eyes sparkled in reply and she began to move forward. There was so much to see and so little time to see it in. She began to weave in and out of the crowds of people, stopping every so often to take in the sights.

Keith impulsively reached out and captured Allura's hand with his own before she could go too far. Allura turned to him, surprise written in her eyes, as her gaze flickered to their joined hands.

"Just making sure you don't go too far, Princess" Keith teased gently, to cover his own surprise at his impulsive action. "We're not on Arus now. If we get separated, you may never find your way home."

Allura shook her head and smiled, but did not pull her hand away. "I doubt it, Keith, I may not have anything else, but I have a communicator with me," she retorted drolly, "and I'm pretty sure that you have one too."

His grin was the only answer she needed and it set the tone of the day. Laughing and teasing, they walked around for hours, indulging in the simple luxury of being anonymous in a crowd. It was something that neither of them had felt in a very long time.

By tacit agreement, they chose not to wear the masks that they usually wore and donned a new set, that of Keith and Allura — a pair of newlyweds, on their honeymoon in Garrison City. It was a very promising beginning.


	19. Chapter 18

The night sky was awash with color. It seemed as though the earth and sky were uncertain whether to continue to cling to the darkness of the night or turn to face the brightness of the day.

Keith lounged in the balcony, with a mug of coffee in his hand, enjoying the way that the air was cool and sparkling clear. Leisurely mornings like these were rare on Arus. At home, he had four o'clock Lion Practice, followed by judo practice, all before breakfast.

To a certain extent, this trip to Terra was a vacation for him but instead of taking the opportunity to sleep in, he had promised himself this dawn — deliberately waking up early to map out a quiet, solitary time so that he could clear his mind of all distractions and think.

Of course, thinking had to be postponed for a few minutes while he tried to remember how to use the coffeemaker. His helplessness in the kitchen was proof positive that life on Arus had changed him. At home, all he had to do to get his caffeine fix was call the kitchen and ask them to send a fresh cup of coffee up to wherever he was.

Taking another sip of his steaming brew and leaning heavily against the railing with a wide smile on his face. For the first time in more years than he could remember — or at least more than he wanted to remember — he felt young and carefree.

It all came from spending time with Allura. She was so young. So open to the world. Her appetite for life was breathtaking. For her, the world was miraculous, inscrutable, mysterious and magical. It wasn't surprising that being with her brought the wonder back to his life.

The sheltered young princess knew him in a way that he couldn't even begin to understand. She somehow saw through the masks he routinely wore. In her eyes, he saw a clear, sweet empathy.

Allura knew the isolation and pain that rank and privilege could bring. She also knew the loneliness, fear and regret that were the heavy price of leadership. He looked at her and saw a mirror of himself.

He closed his eyes and indulged himself with thoughts of her. The memory of the softness of her skin and the touch of her lips on his gave him no peace. The ache in his gut sharpened.

A scream suddenly pierced the comfortable darkness that surrounded him.

Keith's head jerked up.

ALLURA!

Cursing himself for letting his guard down and not carrying a blaster with him, he quickly retraced his steps to the kitchen door, and turned the knob cautiously. After checking to make sure that the room was empty, he darted inside and checked out the rest of the ground floor.

While he was in the living room, he rummaged through a side table for the blaster that his grandfather kept hidden there. His finely honed senses were alive and tuned to any nuance of sound.

There. Upstairs. In Allura's bedroom.

His hand closed around the butt of the blaster and he inspected it with the expertise honed by years of training. The blaster was his grandfather's, but it still worked. Keith smiled grimly. It was better than nothing.

Feeling better now that he was armed, he crept up the stairs and threw himself against the wall of Allura's bedroom. He listened carefully, but the only sound he could hear was her terrified whimper.

He decided enough was enough and burst into the darkened room. The muzzle of his blaster moved from side to side as Keith moved to neutralize any possible threat to Allura's safety.

But to his surprise, there was no one in the room.

Allura was sitting up in bed, as still as a statue. Her eyes were wide-open, fixed and unseeing. She was utterly still and totally devoid of color.

"What's wrong? Were you having a nightmare?" Keith demanded, placing the blaster on night table beside the bed and lowering himself to the bed. He gently laid his hand on Allura's shoulder.

There was no response. Allura didn't even blink.

Keith began to panic. "Damn it, Allura! Wake up and answer me!" He picked her up and settled her onto his lap.

She made a little sound, almost like a whimper and her lashes fluttered closed, their sooty lengths the only splash of colour on her pale cheeks.

Keith forced himself to calm down and injected a stern note of command into his voice. "Princess. I want you to look at me. Do you hear me? Wake up and look at me."

His voice finally penetrated the dark fog surrounding Allura. She latched onto the familiar sound like a person clutching a life preserver and concentrated on it.

The swirling fog of darkness disappeared as reality seeped back. Allura forced her heavy eyelids to lift and found she staring into Keith's worried face.

She stared at him mutely for a long moment, not really sure that he was real, before whispering his name uncertainly, like a child in desperate need of reassurance, and throwing herself into his arms.

"Shh, it's all right," he murmured, smoothing back her hair and stroking her back. "Are you okay? You looked like you were having a doozy of a nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?"

Allura hid her face in his chest and clutched the blue pajama top he wore. "It wasn't a nightmare, Keith. I was there again, in the place I told you about. But, I felt more then vague impressions this time."

Keith felt a chill run down his spine as he heard her voice. It resonated with the terror that stalked her, even in her dreams. He frowned, remembering how frightened she had been on the balcony of the castle on their wedding day.

He made a mental note to discuss Allura's dreams with Coran when they got back to Arus and turned his attention to comforting his terrified princess.

"Have you had dreams like this before?" Keith asked in a soothing voice as he continued to rub Allura's back. He felt her nod against his chest. "When?"

Allura fought back a sob. "I've had them for a while. I guess they started when just before my mother died and they haven't stopped since. They've been getting more and more intense. Now, there are times that I dream even when I'm awake."

Moments passed in silence before Allura looked up at him. "Keith, stay with me, please? I don't want to be alone right now."

He felt his stomach lurch as he stared into tear-filled eyes. Their sapphire depths seemed even more bottomless than usual. "Of course, he said simply, lowering himself to the bed and enfolding her in his warm embrace.

No further words were spoken. They simply held each other tightly as the sun rose over horizon, marking the start of a new day.


	20. Chapter 19

The warm spring morning drew the cadets out in droves. Young men and women in the blue and gray uniform of the Academy strolled along the tree-shrouded brick paths that twisted through the campus.

Allura watched them wistfully and, not for the first time, nor the last, she envied them. Butterflies are free, what about me? She asked herself plaintively, remembering a line in a book that she had once read.

"Are you okay?" Keith's voice was low, meant only for her ears.

"Of course," Allura whispered back, forcing a bright smile onto her face. She turned to face the speaker again.

He touched her cheek with lean, careful fingers and tilted her face up to his, studying the wan complexion that she artfully disguised with makeup. "Are you sure?"

Her gaze flickered up to meet his and a long moment passed in silence. Keith was captivated by the emotions that he saw swirling in her expressive eyes.

Allura blushed and looked away to avoid the intense scrutiny. "I'm okay, Keith." She forced her eyes to up to his and managed a reassuring smile. "I really am."

Keith's eyes narrowed just a little as he considered her words. He looped one long arm over the back of her seat and turned to face the speaker again. "You'd better be."

Allura tried to focus her attention on the speaker again, but it was a difficult. The welcome speeches and presentations were as long-winded and self-serving as she had expected, and she was hard-pressed to keep up her pretense of interest.

Keith watched her out of the corner of his eye. Her expression was as cool and poised as ever, but she had been surreptitiously examining her surroundings for the last five minutes.

He urged her closer and began to whisper stories in Allura's ear. "Do you see that gray-haired general over there?"

Allura nodded.

"That's General Quodast. He used to be the Academy Commandant when we were there. Lance, Jeff and I couldn't stand him. He used to use binoculars to inspect the uniforms of the cadet officers as we walked around and he'd give us demerits if there was a single speck of lint on our clothes."

"That wasn't very nice of him," Allura whispered back.

Keith grinned mischievously at her, "Yeah, that's what we thought. Anyway, once we became upperclassmen, we decided to get even. We gathered up some chickens and stuffed them into his closet. He had feathers on his uniforms for months!"

Suddenly, a commanding voice broke into their whispered conversation. "Captain Blackwell, since you seem to enjoy instructing so much, perhaps you will enjoy lecturing to the cadets of the Advanced Leadership Program at 1330 hours today. I am sure your experience leading the Voltron Force would be of interest to the cadets."

Keith's eyes widened. He knew that voice. He snapped to attention and turned to face Space Marshal Graham. "Yes Sir. I would be honored to do so."

"That's good. I'm sure the cadets will enjoy having you instruct them," Marshal Graham nodded with a hint of amusement glinting in his eyes. "I know from experience how much you... benefited... from the wisdom of your own instructors."

"Now we're really going to be stuck here for the rest of the day," Keith sighed, as he and Allura entered the lounge that had been assigned to the Voltron Force for the duration of their stay at the Academy. "I can't believe that I have to lecture the upstart twits in the Advanced Leadership Program!"

"It can't be that bad," Allura reminded him gently, "You told me yourself that that was the training ground of the most promising cadets, remember? Besides, everyone likes hearing about the adventures of Voltron and —"

"Allura! Keith! Over here!" Ginger waved at them frantically from the table at the corner of the room where she sat with Cliff, Cinda and Lisa.

Allura smiled a greeting at everyone and took a seat next to Ginger. Keith elected to remain standing, hoping he could pace off some of his frustration.

"Congratulations!" Ginger squealed. "I'm so happy for you! Your announcement took us completely by surprise. I would never have guessed that you were a couple when we saw you last."

Catching sight of Keith's visible wince at Ginger's high-pitched squeal, Allura pinched his arm in warning before turning to the blonde lieutenant. "We didn't feel very comfortable letting other people know about our relationship yet, which is probably why you didn't expect it."

Keith rubbed his arm and glanced around their surroundings curiously. The lounge was surprisingly deserted. "Where is everyone else? Pidge asked me to give something to Chip."

"They're attending a lecture somewhere," Lisa replied. "Luckily, the four of us were exempted from it because we attended a similar one when we were studying."

"Did Jeff give you our gift? Hope you liked it." Cinda asked.

"Oh, I did," Keith said. "The little Vehicle Voltron toy Chip made was amazingly authentic. I wasn't able to use it though. Lance and the others were too busy playing with it and didn't want to let me have my turn."

"I'm not surprised. You'd probably use it to develop a few new battle maneuvers." Cliff teased as he reached across the table for some french fries. "Oh, by the way, heard about your teaching assignment, mate. All I have to say is that I'm glad it's you and not me."

Keith rolled his eyes, "Thanks old man. I knew I could count on you for support."

"I don't understand," Allura broke into the conversation. "I would have thought you would have jumped at this opportunity. It's not as though you're not accustomed to lecturing already."

"Ally, stubborn princesses don't count. I wouldn't have to lecture if you listened to what I said in the first place." Keith teased her gently, grinning as Allura wrinkled her nose and made a face at him.

He tried to explain his odd reluctance, "I know how these cadets are — I used to be one of them. Whenever someone lectured us, we couldn't take anything at face value. We had to question everything."

"It's a very interesting experience," Cliff turned to Allura, "I went through the academy a year after Keith and I heard all the stories about how he used to make the guest lecturers very uncomfortable with all the questions he asked during those sessions. Rumor has it that he reduced one lecturer to tears in his senior year at the academy."

"I did no such thing," Keith exclaimed indignantly. "Jeff framed me. He found out that Colonel Rahser was allergic to the pine scent used in toilet cleansers and he sprayed it all around the podium in the auditorium. Rahser left the auditorium without answering my question because he was sneezing too hard!"

"Sure. Fine. Whatever." Ginger said blandly as she buffed her nails against her sleeve.

"Look at the bright-side, It's not that bad, mate. All you're giving up is one day, mate. You'll be on your way home in a few days. We're going to be here for the rest of the week!" Cliff said.

Keith grunted with irritation. "Guys, I think I have to remind you that Ally and I are supposed to be on vacation. We ARE on our honeymoon, you know. We just passed by the Academy to say hello to you guys and attend a few meetings. We're NOT supposed to be on active duty!"

"Conduct your duty bravely and to the best of your ability, Captain," Ginger said, hiding the mischievous gleam in her eyes behind demurely down swept lashes as she idly examined her nails.

Keith shot her a glare that promised revenge, which Ginger returned with a bland smile. He turned to Allura, "Did you want to do anything special this afternoon?"

"Umm... yes... this is going to sound silly," Allura admitted with a small blush coloring her cheeks, "but I had hoped that we could do something that I'd always dreamed of doing since I was a little girl..."

Keith quirked an eyebrow at her, "Shoot."

"I... I... um... want to go shopping!" Allura confessed, in the hushed tones one normally used to confess to a heinous crime.

"Shopping?!" Cliff grimaced. "Ugh. Why would you want to go shopping? You're a princess. What would you need?"

Allura smiled apologetically, "Well, to begin with, I don't have anything to wear for the reception this evening."

Keith's eyebrow arched upwards in disbelief. "How can you not have anything to wear? You have four closets of gowns on Arus!"

"On Arus," Allura said with a smile, gently making her point. "Not here. Besides, I didn't want to bring a lot of clothes."

"But we brought five suitcases!" Keith protested.

"Two of those cases are yours, you know," Allura's eyes sparkled with humor as she teased her husband. "The one you brought and the one that Nanny packed for you."

Keith groaned. "Nanny packed for both of us? No wonder those cases were so heavy. I wouldn't put it past her to pack my dress uniform, my sword and the rest of my regalia."

"She did," Allura smiled ruefully. "She packed a lot of my stuff too. My only problem is that the gown that she packed is much too formal for the reception later. We were so busy with the wedding preparations that I wasn't able to supervise the packing of my things."

"Horrors. What a sadist. I pity you both for having to live in such deprivation," Lisa laughed, half-enviously.

The humor in Allura's eyes died as she glanced at Lisa. "It has a high price, though. Your lives are your own. Mine belongs to an entire planet." she said quietly. "You don't know how much I envy you guys your freedom. This is probably the first time in my entire life that I've ever been anywhere without someone telling me what to do."

"So, I don't tell her what to do?" Keith muttered under his breath, trying to bring the laughter back to Allura's eyes. "I'm almost insulted. At the very least, I would have expected to be ranked up there with Coran and Nanny."

His mock-tirade was interrupted by a gentle touch on his arm.

"Please, Keith," she pleaded earnestly. "You don't know how much this means to me. I've always dreamed of being ordinary, and now, even for just a few days, I am! I can do the normal things that you guys take for granted." Allura gazed into his dark eyes with her own blue gaze, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to do this again."

Keith closed his eyes and weighed his options. He didn't want to let her go out without him, but he knew how much this outing meant to her. He sighed as he realized that there was no way that he could turn her down. He just hoped he wouldn't end up regretting it.

Realizing what that sigh meant, Allura's eyes sparkled with delight and she suddenly leapt at him, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. "Oh Keith, thank you!"

His arms encircled her waist in reflexive response. He chuckled and shook his head wryly.

Cinda asked wonderingly, "Allura, you've never gone shopping before?" Shopping was a favorite recreational activity for the female Academy cadets. In fact, they lived for it. Buying clothes reminded them of their femininity, something that they were always in danger of forgetting because of their rigorous military training.

Allura turned in the circle of Keith's embrace to face her friend. A becoming blush colored her cheeks. "I've NEVER bought anything. Everything I own is a hand-me-down from some distant ancestor or was custom designed for me by Nanny and the castle seamstresses."

The girls all nodded sympathetically, much to Keith's bemusement. "Go ahead and enjoy yourself, Princess. After I make arrangements for your outing, I'm going to lock myself up and prepare for my lecture."

He chuckled at the guilty look that Allura shot him and tapped her cheek affectionately. "No, it's alright. I'm just joking. You'd be bored if you stayed behind." He reached into his pocket and handed Allura a small plastic card. "Here, take this."

"Thank you," Allura replied automatically as she accepted the card. She glanced at it quizzically. "Um, what is it?"

Keith bit back the laughter that threatened to erupt. Allura blended in so well with everyone that he forgot that she was a sheltered princess who had never been to Terra before.

He smiled ruefully and began to explain, "It's a debit card. You'll need this to pay for your purchases later." Keith paused as a sudden thought occurred to him. He threw her a wary glance before reaching for some chips on the table, "You DO know that when you go shopping, you have to pay for the things you take, right?"

Allura rolled her eyes when Keith's back was turned. She smiled innocently and said in the most puzzled voice she could muster, "Pay? You mean you don't just get things from the stores?"

Keith reacted predictably. He launched into what Lance called his Academy instructor mode and began to deliver an impromptu lecture about the market structure of Terran economy and the modes of payment used in consumer retail shops.

He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the satisfied smirk on Allura's face and the amused looks on the faces of the people surrounding them.

"Gee, Keith, I don't think you need much preparation for your lecture," Lisa teased him lightly. "It seems like you can begin lecturing just like that." She snapped her fingers to emphasize her point.

Cliff couldn't resist adding his two cents as well, "Never underestimate a blonde, Captain. Sometimes, we're a lot sneakier and smarter than we let on."

Keith smiled in wry acknowledgement and decided to change the topic to a safer one, "Seriously though, I know that we're not on Arus and no one will recognize you, but I can't take any chances with your safety."

Allura's blue eyes darkened with mutiny. She was about to object vehemently when he chucked her under her chin to forestall any possible protest she might have.

"But, because we're not on Arus, I won't insist that a full squadron of troops escort you, IF you promise me that you'll behave. If you do that, I'll assign Ginger, Lisa and Cinda to be your bodyguards for the day."

Allura nodded and Keith smiled at her in approval before turning to Lisa, "Got that Lieutenant? You're in charge. Make sure that my princess comes back to me in one piece."

Allura looked around in silent wonder. The large mall fascinated her with its various small specialty shops and large department stores. There were more clothes than she had ever seen before.

Ginger, Lisa and Cinda hurriedly ushered her into a small specialty shop, glancing around cautiously. Allura rolled her eyes in exasperation. They had obviously taken Keith's warning to heart.

But she couldn't really take them to task. She wasn't really capable of taking care of herself today, not when she was hopelessly distracted by all that she saw around her — the colors and soft materials that had her staring and touching in frank admiration. She expected racks of clothing with shoppers bustling around — not this quiet haven of beauty and elegance.

The store was decorated in burnished silver and soft blue with lots of subdued lighting so as not to detract from the merchandise, which was prominently displayed on the long-waisted, arrogant looking mannequins scattered around the store.

She turned to her friends and bodyguards-for-the-day. "While you're helping me find a gown for the reception tonight, Keith and I would like each of you to select something for yourselves." Allura said warmly, "Unless, of course, you already have something to wear."

Lisa, Ginger and Cinda exchanged thrilled looks. They had secretly been bemoaning the fact that they had nothing formal enough to wear to the reception except for their dress uniforms — which weren't feminine at all.

"Well, I don't know about you, ladies, but I never turn down gifts from friends." Ginger declared, rubbing her hands together with anticipation. "Oh we're going to have so much fun!"

Ginger's words echoed in Allura's ears hours later.

Her belief that shopping expeditions were leisurely and relaxed was slowly changing to the contrary. After two hours shopping, she began to feel as though she had spent half a day in a flight simulator — tired and dizzy.

While Allura gazed around her, the girls examined the clothes critically, going from display to display, occasionally requesting for an item and setting it aside.

Short and strappy cocktail dresses, evening gowns that shimmered and flowed. The girls made Allura try all of these on and model what she was wearing before them, approving and vetoing each selection.

To be perfectly honest, she was grateful that they were with her today. She couldn't imagine how she would have managed to pick something out if she had been alone. The sheer variety of clothes in the shop was overwhelming.

The girls hadn't been content just to select the gown that Allura was to wear to the reception. They picked out an entire wardrobe – including lingerie that made Allura's cheeks burn just looking at them! – for her, soliciting the help of the store's owner, a friendly woman named Justine.

Justine was only too happy to help the girls in their quest after seeing the name on the e-cash card Allura handed her. She ruthlessly ransacked her inventory, bringing out blouses, pants, jeans, skirts and dresses for Allura to try on and shoe, belts and handbags to accessorize her outfits with.

The purchases began to mount into an alarming mountain.

"I don't think Keith meant for me to buy all this. I only told him that I'd buy a gown," Allura objected, looking uneasily at the stacks of boxes and bags. "We're not going to be here for long — those are enough clothes to last a month!"

"Yes, for most people," Ginger murmured absently as she examined a display of negligees. "But you're a special case. You have an image to maintain."

"You mean because of my title?" Allura asked. "Ginge, you've visited Arus. Life is slower and fashion is more conservative there. To be perfectly honest, I doubt I'll be able to wear even half of these clothes without causing a small scandal."

"No, silly, " Cinda shook her head and laughed, "She means that even if you weren't the Princess Royal of Arus, you're married to Keith Blackwell and the Blackwells have an image that needs to be maintained."

"Which means?" Allura prompted.

"That you're the lucky girl who managed to capture the heart of one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet. Keith's family background and money make him the near-equivalent of Terran royalty," Lisa continued.

Cinda nodded agreement, "And when you add all that he has accomplished to the equation, well, knowing Keith as we do, he probably didn't tell you that he was the youngest person ever to be made captain in the entire history of the Garrison."

"And he did it all on his own, without family influence easing the way." Ginger added as she fingered a long sweeping negligee that seemed too fragile to be real. "You know, a lot of people believed that Keith was going to be Space Marshal of Galaxy Garrison someday, just like his grand-father was, but well, I guess fate had other plans for him."

"We're glad he married you though," Lisa smiled. "We were so worried that he was going to fall for one of brainless bimbos who were all over him. I don't know why, but it seemed all the girls he went out with had such strange names – Fifi, Bambi, Strawberry, Velvet…"

Allura considered the words of her friends as she returned to the dressing room and tried on yet another dress. Even after four years, there was still so much that she didn't know about the mysterious man who was her husband.

She gasped as she caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror. She didn't know the young woman who looked back at her — she looked nothing like the person who had entered the store a few hours ago.

The conservative pink suit that she had worn to the welcome ceremonies — one of the many that Nanny had designed for her — had been replaced by a simple dress in a blue so pale that it was almost the color of an eggshell.

The silky material felt strange but it was wondrously soft. She enjoyed the way that it clung to the curves of her body. She felt feminine, young and free.

"Well?" Ginger demanded impatiently, knocking on the door to the dressing room. "What do you think? Do you like it?!"

Allura opened the door and let her friends in. She turned back to the mirror and examined herself critically. "I love the style..."

Cinda clapped her hands and grinned in triumph. "I knew that dress was you the minute I saw it! You look lovely, Princess."

"...but I don't think I can ever wear this," Allura continued as if Cinda had never interrupted, tugging at the hem of her skirt. "It's much too... short."

"Your skirt is shorter than you're used too, but it still is a perfectly respectable length," Lisa said sympathetically and pointed at Ginger, "In fact, compared to the skirts that SHE wears, your skirt is downright conservative!"

Allura smiled uncertainly, "Are you sure?"

Three heads nodded in unison.

"And you think Keith will like it? Really?"

"You mean Sir Galahad? Of course he'll like it. He's the parfait, gentil knight but he's still human," Ginger laughed, "Or at least we think he is."

"Thanks," Allura threw her friend a grateful smile. "I've always wondered though, why do you call him Sir Galahad? I've heard Lance call him that too."

"It was his call sign in the flight school," Cinda explained. "Tradition dictates that each class has to pick a name for themselves after completing advanced flight training and that their call signs are related to the class name."

The lovely Drule girl shrugged her slim shoulders, "Their class chose to be known as the Black Knights. That's why Keith, Lance and Jeff have a small black sword insignia on their dress uniforms."

"That's also how Lance-a-lot got his name." Ginger told Allura as she rolled her eyes in disgust. "I swear, that man honestly thinks that he's god's gift to women."

"Well, you thought so too for a while, didn't you, Ginger?" Cinda teased. "I distinctly remember you mooning over Lance when he was your instructor in Flight Training," she laughed at the memory. "I've never seen a more inept pupil in my entire life."

"We were just friends," Ginger retorted primly. "He was nice enough to help me out when I had a difficult time adjusting to the controls of the simulator."

"Okay. If you say so." Lisa and Cinda exchanged glances with each other and burst out laughing.

"You weren't there when Keith and Jeff learned that you were on the list of possible candidates for the Voltron Force. I've never seen them so... discomfited — they thought that the world was coming to an end if YOU managed to make the roster." Lisa managed to gasp out, in between giggles.

"I thought that you were all in the Academy together," Allura said, with a puzzled frown on her pretty face.

Cinda nodded, "Most of us were. Sven and Commander Hawkins were upper classmen when Keith, Lance and Jeff got in. So they weren't around when we started at the Academy. We only met them during the Voltron Training Camp."

"We ran into the others at the Academy," Lisa explained, "even though we weren't all in the same batch. When we got in, Keith, Lance and Jeff were upperclassmen, unfortunately for us."

"A lot of instructing duties are delegated to upperclassmen," Ginger said. "It's part of the tradition. The seniors have to teach the freshmen the fundamentals of military life."

"That's why Ginger takes so much joy in irritating Keith," Cinda explained delicately. Ever the peacemaker, she was worried about Allura's reaction to Ginger's constant baiting of Keith, "As upperclassmen, their job was to make our lives hell and they succeeded admirably."

"Can you imagine the nerve of that man?" Ginger demanded. "He'd sound reveille at 4 o'clock in the morning and expect us to be at the flight line at 4:15. I had to appear in public without make-up!"

Allura laughed sympathetically. Having been through Keith's infamous morning drills, she could understand Ginger's outrage. "I know what you mean, I learned how to stick my hair in a bun while running to Castle Control for the 4 o'clock lion practice."

Mischievous humor danced in Allura's eyes as she joined her friends in laughter. For one brief, shining moment, she felt like the carefree, normal person that she had always wanted to be.

"Traditionally, the Drule Empire does not embark on alliances with anyone. A major exception to this was the joint exercise that they held with Zarkon, who is, as you all know, is a tolerated outlaw of the Drule Empire."

Keith's voice was well modulated and clear enough that it carried to the back of the room even without the small microphone embedded in the podium. He took a small sip of water from a glass on the podium.

"Alright, let's look at the star map again. Planet Arus, where my team is based, is located in the Far Universe, while the Vehicle Team patrols the Near Universe. During the Fleet of Doom episode, both Voltron Forces had to get to Planet Acura." Keith turned to point to the coordinates, missing the stir among the male cadets as four women entered the rear of the room.

"The Vehicle Team, as you may know, is based on the SS Explorer, which is capable of warp speed. The Lion Force however is a primarily a defense force. To get to the Acura, we utilized a revolutionary invention of the late King Alfor of Arus — the Flying Fortress — "

Keith halted as he turned and got his first look of Allura standing quietly in the back of the room, waiting to take her seat. His eyes widened admiringly at the length of leg exposed by her short skirt, and for a second, he lost his train of thought.

He swallowed and took a sip of water from the glass on the podium and began to lecture again, drawing the attention of the room to him. "The Fleet of Doom episode brought to home the fact that there were subtle differences between the two Voltrons."

Allura took a seat and settled down to watch Keith in action, feeling her heart swell with love and longing as she regarded the dashing figure he made in the navy blue uniform of a Galaxy Garrison Command Officer.

"For example, a major difference between the two Voltrons is that the Vehicle Team can only form Voltron for a short length of time while my team can stay as Voltron for an almost indefinite period of time."

At the back of the room, Ginger rolled her eyes. Lisa elbowed her in the ribs and whispered sternly, "Behave Lieutenant!"

"As a result, each Voltron Force has developed different tactics for dealing with their respective enemies. The Fleet of Doom episode highlighted the differences between the two teams and demonstrated that cooperation and coordination between the different Voltron teams is imperative to success in combat," Keith continued.

Cinda took one look at the mischievous gleam in Ginger's eyes and pleaded, "Ginger, please, don't do anything."

Ginger turned to her friends and shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry, I just have to. We're back in the Academy, listening to another lecture — and it's by Keith, of all people! I can't resist!"

"In recognition of that fact, Garrison Command has embarked on an innovative program of cross-posting. As we speak now, Commander Jeffrey Wyatt, the Vehicle Voltron Commander is on Arus, commanding my team while I meet with the Vehicle Voltron Force to discuss —"

"Excuse me, Captain."

Keith nodded. "Yes?" He would have known that distinctive high voice anywhere. He looked towards the back of the room, where Ginger sat with Lisa, Cinda and Allura.

His eyes narrowed as he noticed the way that several cadets had begun to cast interested looks at Allura. He glanced up at Ginger. "Stand up, please Lieutenant, so that the rest of the class can see you."

Ginger stood up at attention and saluted in reflex. As Keith expected, the eyes of the male cadets in the room immediately focused on her, attracted by her vibrant good looks and natural air of confidence.

"Sir, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that you were here on your honeymoon."

Keith chuckled wryly, knowing what Ginger was trying to do. He refused to let her baiting get to him. "A good officer knows how to manage his time effectively, Lieutenant. My wife hasn't complained yet."

The class laughed.

Keith's dark eyes flashed mischievously. "Cadets. I'd like you to meet Lt. Geraldine Gregory of the Vehicle Voltron Air Team. Lt. Gregory is an Academy graduate who specialized in Military History and Tactics. I have arranged for her to take over this lecture to share with you her insights on the Fleet of Doom episode and the differences between the strategies developed by each Voltron Force."

Ginger's eyes shot daggers at him.

Keith returned her glare with a bland smile of his own. He strode up towards her and handed her the laser pointer. "Lieutenant, conduct your duty bravely and to the best of your ability."

Allura watched the exchange between her husband and her friend with laughing eyes, unaware of the lecherous scrutiny that the male cadets near her were subjecting her to.

"And I'm sure that that's what the Captain's going to do. His wife is one hot mama. Curves in all the right places and a great set of hooters to match!" A male cadet whispered to his seatmate, eyeing Allura from head to toe with lustful eyes.

"Mmmhmm," the other cadet agreed, licking his lips. "There must be something seriously wrong with him. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't be here. I'd be down for the count playing hide the salami."

The brief conversation between the cadets did not go unnoticed. Lisa and Cinda exchanged outraged looks and worriedly glanced at Allura, hoping that the princess would not understand the crude implications. To their relief, she was waiting for Keith by the door, safely out of hearing range.

Unfortunately though, Keith's sharp ears heard everything. His fists were clenched at his sides and he looked ready to fly into action. Lisa and Cinda immediately stood up, came to attention and snapped crisp salutes, purposely blocking Keith's paths to the cadets.

"Keith, do NOT make a scene." Lisa warned him in a low undertone, angling her salute to disguise her moving lips. "Go home and we'll see you later at the reception," she ordered, grateful that the attention of the class was directed at Ginger and not at Keith.

Keith nodded grudgingly and settled for leveling a murderous stare at the offending students, noticing with satisfaction how they hastily averted their eyes and pretended to write in their notebooks.

He turned to Cinda and declared in harsh whisper, "Lt. Kariyat, the two cadets in seats 76 Charlie and Delta are in violation of the following sections of the Code of Conduct — 422 dash 12, 17 and 23. Their actions are a disgrace to the other officers and cadets of the academy. Make sure Academy Commandant Wuiblan deals with them accordingly."

Keith waited until the door closed swished closed behind them, before turning to look at his wife. Allura endured his inspection, her nervous gaze running over his face to try to penetrate the expressionless mask he wore.

Finally, she couldn't bear his silent scrutiny any longer. "Well," she demanded, "What do you think?"

Keith continued to regard her solemnly and Allura felt her heart wrench. "Oh no," she whispered sadly, "you don't like it." She closed her eyes and tried to fight the tears that threatened to fall.

Her eyes flew open when Keith suddenly started laughing. "Don't look so worried... You know you look beautiful," he said gruffly, briefly letting his fingers tangle in the golden ends of her hair.

She stared at him in bemusement; blue eyes round with confusion, stunned by the affectionate gesture, and the undisguised admiration in his eyes.

"Well, that's something I should remember," Keith remarked wryly, "when I argue with you, you come back at me with both fists swinging, but if I pay you a compliment, you become speechless."

Allura blushed and lowered her gaze, "I'm sorry, that was very rude." She raised her eyes to meet his dark ones, "Thank you very much. I'm glad you like it... it ... it means a lot to me."

Keith smiled and smoothed a stray lock of hair away from her face. "Don't see why it should. God knows, Lotor tells you that you're beautiful often enough."

His breath came out in a huff, as Allura punched him gently on the stomach. His retaliation was instant. He poked Allura in what he knew was a particularly ticklish spot and received a satisfying squeal in response.

Their shared laughter echoed out over the quad, even as the ancient carillon bells trilled out the hour in a time-honored Academy tradition.


	21. Chapter 20

Keith turned at the sound of Allura's doors opening and his eyes widened with shock. For a brief instant, his heart skipped a beat.

Allura was wearing a strapless midnight blue confection that shimmered in the dim light. Beaded flowers decorated the low bodice that skimmed the soft curve of her breasts and trailed along the low back of her gown. Her hair was up in an intricate bun, but tendrils escaped from it, tickling her ears and the nape of her neck.

His eye was drawn to the ring that she wore on her finger, the ring that he had given her. He was suddenly struck by a feeling of old-fashioned masculine pride...

His princess was exquisite. He felt his heart warm as he realized that Allura was HIS princess, entrusted to him by Coran in a strange twist of fate that he would never have imagined, even in his wildest dreams.

Allura greeted him with a brilliant smile and a small curtsey, in what had become their own little private joke. She searched his eyes for approval, but she found them strangely veiled and unreadable.

Her smile trembled and faded. The single-minded intensity with which she was being studied was rapidly stripping her of all composure. "Shall we go? We don't want to keep the others waiting."

Keith merely nodded, a slight inclination of his head.

Allura lifted her skirts and tried to brush past him, but a gentle hand reached out and captured her arm, halting her progress. She raised her eyes to his face in confusion.

He gazed down at her for another unnerving moment, then held up a single red rose bud, placing it in her hands. "You look lovely, Princess," he said gruffly, reaching out a gentle hand to stroke her cheek to see if it was really as soft as it was appeared.

"Thank you," she said quietly as she dropped her eyes to the bloom in her hand. The sincerity in his voice and the intensity in his eyes made her suddenly shy and unsure of herself.

Keith stared down at her. He was caught by a strange depth of emotion that he had never felt before. Hesitation and indecision warred within him for a brief moment, before his handsome features finally relaxed in a smile

In keeping with the request of the Public Affairs Divisions of both Galaxy Alliance and Galaxy Garrison, Keith and Allura agreed to hold a short conference prior to the reception.

The official press area was cordoned off with a velvet rope at the side entrance of the stately mansion. Fifty reporters milled around under the watchful eyes of the Garrison Public Affairs officers.

The noise level dropped as Ambassador Orsant, the thin, balding Director of Public Affairs of Galaxy Alliance stepped forward, "Ladies and gentlemen of the press," he announced formally, "Their Highnesses, the Prince and Princess Royal of Arus!"

Flashes went off in a blinding blur and mini-cameras began to record the moment as soon as Keith and Allura appeared at the side entrance. Allura blinked against the lights, surprised and more than a little disconcerted.

Her fingers shook as she took Keith's arm, but she managed to hold on to her smile. She had never felt so painfully self-conscious in her entire life, and, from the tension she felt in the muscled arm beneath her hand, she knew that Keith felt the same way too.

"Their Highnesses have agreed to answer questions for five minutes, so please keep your questions short and to the point," the Alliance official continued.

The anticipated pandemonium began instantly. Questions were shouted from almost everywhere — the loudest coming from a middle-aged reporter in the front row. "Your Highness, how long have you known each other?"

"We first met when Keith came to Arus with the rest of the Voltron Force," Allura replied. "That was four years ago."

"Captain, you were considered one of Galaxy Garrison's finest officers. Do you regret giving up your career for love? Do you think you'll miss what you could have had?"

Allura held her breath, as she waited to hear Keith's answer. Those were the questions that weighed on her mind during her quiet moments, but hadn't asked, afraid that she wouldn't like the answer.

"I'm not giving up anything," Keith laughed. "I joined GG because I wanted my life to make a difference and that's exactly what Allura and I do on Arus. She rules it and I back her up."

Allura shook her head and addressed the reporter, "Keith's being much too modest. He does much, much more than that... As commander of the Voltron Force, he and the others have given the people of the dozens of planets their lives and freedom back, but they've also given them something infinitely more precious.

"What's that, Princess?" A curious reporter shouted from the back of the crowd.

"Hope," Allura said simply, turning to Keith with a smile in her eyes.

The rest of the press conference continued in the same vein. Keith and Allura answering questions with unflappable serenity, their smiles and charm never wavering, until the very last question was called out by a portly bespectacled man in the very first row.

"We've been hearing rumors that Galaxy Garrison plans to become more aggressive in the conflicts with the Doom and Drule empires. Can either of you comment on this?"

General Kreno, Ambassador Orsant's counterpart in Galaxy Garrison, immediately waded into the fray with his verbal fists raised, saving Keith and Allura from having to answer. "I'm sorry, that's classified information. We'll be releasing a statement after all the details have been worked out."

The landscaped grounds of the lavish Garrison City estate that was the official residence of the Space Marshal of Galaxy Garrison twinkled with tiny white lights that had been strung in all the trees.

Music from Terra's big band era, in the mid-20th century drifted through the air as the Garrison orchestra played. White-coated waiters passed deftly through the glittering crowd of partygoers dispensing appetizers and champagne.

The Vehicle Team stood, off to one side of the garden, and tried to look like they belonged there in the glittering crowd of Garrison and Alliance officials.

"We're round pegs in square holes," Cliff muttered under his breath as he tugged uncomfortably on the starched collar of his formal dress uniform. "We should be out running drills or exploring, not standing here socializing."

"I agree," Crik replied, shooting his cuffs a glance to make sure that the correct one-and-a-half-inches of snowy white cotton showed beneath the sleeves of his jacket.

"Maybe we can leave early," Marvin suggested hopefully, tilting his head to one side. "I don't think Captain Keith will mind... By the way, Hutch, I think you're missing a stud in your shirtfront."

"What!?" Hutch fingered the front of his shirt. "Damn. You're right." He glanced desperately. "And Space Marshal Graham's on his way here! Oh, no, what do we do?!"

Chip sighed in resignation and reached into his pocket to find a spare shirt stud, which he handed to Hutch. No wonder Pidge stressed the need to keep spare buttons on hand during formal functions — he probably ran into the same problems with his team on Arus.

"Calm down, Hutch!" Shannon retorted. "Marshal Graham's on the other side of the room, and there are hordes of people between us. It'll be hours before he manages to make his way here, if he decides to greet us at all."

Lisa, Ginger and Cinda rolled their eyes in unison and tried to ignore the problems of their male co-pilots. One of the first lessons they had learned as a team was that there were times when they had to let the boys be boys.

"The decorations are lovely, aren't they?" Lisa remarked half-heartedly, as a slender hand played with the long chiffon skirts of her forest green evening gown.

The other girls turned to look at the grounds with forced interest.

Lighted sculptures of famous ships were scattered around the vast lawn of the opulent estate, where three dozen large round tables were set up, laid with snowy white damask linens and sparkling china and silverware.

"Did you notice the sculpture of the Explorer at eleven o'clock?" a Ginger said as she surreptitiously examined the area for handsome men. In deference to the occasion, she had chosen to wear a black gown, but in classic Ginger fashion, one shoulder was left bare and slit halfway up her thigh.

"Oh, look," Cinda said suddenly, an enchanting gamine in her sleek column of red silk — high necked and long-sleeved. "Keith and Allura have arrived."

As one, they all turned to watch the Prince and Princess Royal of Arus walk calmly through the crowd with their heads held high, seemingly unaware of the people who turned to stare at them.

"Champagne?" a waiter inquired, as he proffered a silver tray upon which rested tulip-shaped glasses.

Allura nodded, so Keith got two and handed her one.

He sipped it absently as he surveyed the crowd. There was the usual assortment for such occasions: diplomats, military officers, business people, a handful of representatives from the arts, and a few who couldn't be quite pegged.

In the space of one heartbeat, he felt his face drop from an expression of smiling urbanity to one of shocked amazement when he noticed the mark on Allura's bare shoulder.

Allura sensed Keith's attitude take a drastic change. She turned to him uncertainly with wide, concerned eyes. "Keith?" she asked, laying a gentle hand on his arm. "What's wrong?"

Keith swallowed and bent closer to examine the small mark. It was a perfectly formed bird with wings of flame. He turned her around with hands that were surprisingly gentle, and touched her shoulder tentatively. He lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "I thought you were only going shopping. What the hell were you thinking about when you got that?!"

Allura's eyes widened in reaction to the shock and surprise in her husband's voice. She turned her head to see what he was talking about. "My birthmark?"

Keith blinked and groaned inwardly. Once again he had jumped to conclusions and had humiliated himself in the process. He grinned sheepishly at her. "I'm sorry. I thought it was a tattoo."

Allura shook her head and took a small sip of her champagne. She didn't say a word, but the gentle amusement that danced in her eyes told him that his faux pas was forgiven and forgotten.

He heaved a sigh of relief and suddenly realized that he was nervous. Tonight had all the uneasiness of a first date — which it was — even though they were married. He chuckled out loud at the irony of the situation.

Allura glanced at him quizzically.

He shook his head and changed the topic. "I found the Vehicle Team. They're standing over there, near the bar and they look like they'd rather be anywhere else but here."

"They do look rather uncomfortable in their dress uniforms." Allura commented with a laugh. "They make me feel right at home."

Keith grinned back at her, idly wondering why the sound of her laughter thrilled him to his bones. He reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I doubt that we'll be able to get to them before dinner, but let's try our luck and say hello to the guys."

Allura agreed with a bright smile and slipped her hand into the crook of his arm affectionately. Being this close to him felt right — and her heart sang when she felt Keith reach over and cover her hand with his own.

On their slow trek around the perimeter of the gigantic garden, they made numerous stops to greet the many friends, acquaintances, and colleagues of the Blackwell family. Each time, Keith drew Allura forward, proud to introduce her as his wife.

It soon became obvious that he was well liked and respected by his friends and associates, and his choice of bride met with acceptance and approval, if not immediately, then shortly after exposure to Allura's unique blend of spirit, intelligence and charm.

A sleekly coiffured silver-haired woman who had cornered Allura in a conversation for several minutes halted Keith as he passed and smiled with the privilege of years of friendship. "Young man, you have a lovely wife."

Keith grinned affectionately at the woman who had been his grandmother's closest friend. "Thanks, Mrs. Maya. I wish Katie Nana had lived long enough to meet her."

"They would have gotten along wonderfully," Mrs. Maya laughed. "Allura reminds me of her, you know. They have the same refreshing outlook towards life."

A lazy grin flashed across Keith's handsome face as his gaze drifted towards his wife as she stood talking to the Belgarion ambassador. "I know. Why do you think I married her?"

Mrs. Maya couldn't help but smile as she watched a strange mixture of pride and tenderness flicker across the face of the young man she loved like a grandson.

That look took her back years. She had seen that look hundreds of times before, on the face of her best friend's husband — a man who had been hopelessly besotted with his wife.

As Keith had predicted, they were not able to join the rest of the Voltron Force before dinner. As the guests of honor, they had to join Marshal Graham and several other high-ranking officials at the head table.

He had been more than a little relieved when the white-suited waiter arrived to clear away their plates, signifying the end of the meal. He had found it difficult to concentrate during the meal, but he hoped that he had managed to look moderately interested in the conversation.

He couldn't stop thinking about the note that the Space Marshal had slipped him during dinner. "I'd like to see you in my study after dinner." It was a strange, tersely worded note that had no after word or explanation.

After a hushed conversation with Allura, it was decided that she would stay with Cliff and the other members of the Voltron Force while he went to see what the Space Marshal wanted.

The official residence of the Space Marshal of Galaxy Garrison was a tribute to the great wealth and power of the organization he led. The facade of the house was actually quite simple, but once inside, visitors were greeted by a vast marble floor.

Keith forced himself to walk slowly. This place was treacherous, he remembered with a wince. As a little boy, his knee had been constantly bruised because of all the times he had slipped when running across this very floor.

His heels clicked floor as he marched towards the Space Marshal's private study, where an armed sentry stopped him as he approached. "I'm sorry, Captain, sir, but this area is off-limits."

"The Space Marshal is expecting me," Keith explained quietly. "My name is Keith Blackwell."

Recognizing the name, the sentry snapped to attention and stepped aside. "I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't recognize you. Please go in. Marshal Graham has been expecting you."

Keith nodded and returned the sentry's salute. He walked to the door and tugged at the hem of his jacket before rapping decisively to announce his presence. Hearing a muffled acknowledgement, he opened the door and entered the room.

It looked exactly like he remembered it, even though it had been years since he was there last. He snapped to attention and offered a crisp military salute. "Captain KA Blackwell reporting as ordered, SIR!"

"At ease, Keith. That was a request, not an order." Richard Graham turned from his position by the window, where he had been watching the people milling around on his lawn. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you very much, Sir," he said politely as he sat down.

"You're a bit too big to fit under this desk now." The Space Marshal commented idly as he crossed from the window to his desk. "I remember how you used to spend hours hiding here, watching your grandfather work."

Keith chuckled wryly. "In retrospect, it was a wonder he got anything done. I was always underfoot — literally!"

A fond grin crossed the normally serious face of the Space Marshal. "Did I ever tell you that you were the youngest person that the Intelligence Section ever investigated? There was some concern because of how much classified information you had access to."

Keith chuckled politely as the Space Marshal continued. ""Before I tell you why I asked you to come here today, I wanted to congratulate you on your marriage. I hope that you and the Princess will be very happy together.

"Thank you. We hope so too," Keith said, automatically, studying the Marshal intently. Richard Graham looked tired, as though he carried the weight of the universe on his broad shoulders.

"I also wanted to discuss something with you," Marshal Graham endured Keith's scrutiny as he leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers, trying to formulate his thoughts. "You may have heard the rumor about the possible escalation of the offensive against Zarkon."

"Yes. A reporter asked a question about that during our short press conference." Keith replied, realizing with a start that the tolerant, accepting paternal figure that he had known as he was growing up was gone.

The Space Marshal nodded. "It couldn't be more wrong," he explained quietly. "The Strategic Operations group is pushing me to initiate peace talks with Zarkon."

Keith shot the Space Marshal an incredulous look. He had known Richard Graham for most of his life and he had always had had the utmost faith in the man's wise judgment. "Sir? Are you actually considering this?"

"Unfortunately yes," Richard Graham admitted, reluctantly. "The SOG has some valid concerns about our ability to wage a war on two fronts. Our reserves are dangerously low already."

Keith's brows drew together. "Sir, to be perfectly honest, I think that you're playing a dangerous game here. Signing a peace treaty with Zarkon would be like letting the fox into the hen house," Keith said bluntly.

"I know."

"Then why are we even talking about it?" Keith demanded.

Marshal Graham leaned forward. "Because they won't listen to me," he admitted bluntly. "People have seen how horrible war is and they don't realize that a bad peace can be even worse than a war."


	22. Chapter 21

"I'm back," Keith said, quietly so close to Allura's ear that she felt his breath fanning her face. She turned to face him with a warm smile of greeting on her face.

A silent conversation passed between them as their eyes met.

Hers were bright with curiosity. His were clouded with concern and caution. A slight furrowing of his eyebrows warned her not to ask any questions as his eyes flickered towards the other members of the Voltron Force.

"So, is anything up? Why did the Space Marshal want to meet with you?" Cliff asked.

"No real reason. It's an old tradition of ours." Keith explained, choosing to address the second question instead of the first. "Marshal Graham used to be my grandfather's aide you know. Whenever we had parties like this, he'd make a token appearance and then disappear into his study." He smiled at the memory. "I used to join him as soon as my grandmother let me leave and we'd spend hours talking."

Ginger shot him an incredulous look. "Somehow," she commented wryly. "I can't picture you spending hours talking voluntarily."

"So speaks the woman who spent two hours answering questions for the Advanced Leadership Class," Lisa laughed. "Because of you we were almost late for the party."

Keith shook his head and ignored the friendly bickering. "If you'll excuse us, I promised my wife the first waltz of the evening and I think this is it."

He held out his hand to Allura in a silent invitation to dance. She put her hand in his and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor, where the orchestra began to play the slow opening notes of a stately waltz in three-quarter time.

Allura moved into Keith's arms, as he took her extended right hand in his own much larger one and placed his other hand at her narrow waist. Without a word, he swirled her into the dance, officially starting the dancing for the evening.

Allura looked up at him, as he guided her across the vast expanse of the dance floor, avoiding the other couples that had begun to join them there. "So, what did the Marshal Graham want?"

"Peace with Zarkon," Keith replied tersely, leading Allura into a turn that kept his back to the other guests. He barely managed to refrain from grimacing as he felt a foot step on his toes. "OW!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Allura whispered, mortified by her clumsiness. She stared at him in dismay. "Does Marshal Graham really want to peace with that, that... trupqa?"

Keith couldn't resist a chuckle. Trupqa was a particularly vile curse in the Xardian language. "Does Nanny know that you know words like that?" The widening of her eyes as she realized what she had said the only answer he needed.

"Keith!"

He sobered and slowed the pace of their steps, still making sure that they were in time to the music. "He doesn't want to. He knows what Zarkon is, but others don't feel the same way. Out of sight, out of mind, you know."

They both struggled to come to terms with what they had just learned. The possibility of a peace agreement with Zarkon was something that neither of them had ever considered, knowing the monster that he was.

Soothing music filled the night air.

They danced in silence for several long moments as the music weaved its magic spell. Without realizing it, the world and all its problems faded away and they each became aware of the closeness of the other.

A lazy smile dawned on Keith's face as he held his beautiful bride tenderly in his arms. Allura smiled up at him with her heart reflected in her glorious eyes.

The music continued to serenade them.

Keith's dark head drew closer to Allura's golden one. He rested his chin on the crown of her head, feeling her breath on his hand as he cradled it against his chest with his own.

The full skirts of Allura's gown swirled around Keith's formal trousers as they moved together effortlessly. It was almost as though they were two halves of one whole.

The music built in intensity.

Heads turned to watch them — the handsome young captain dancing with the beautiful princess who held his heart — sensing the magic that shimmered between them.

This, without a doubt, was the stuff that fairy tales were made of.

Allura sat at the dresser in her room, counting the strokes as she brushed her long hair. As a little girl, Nanny required her to brush her hair thoroughly — a minimum of one hundred strokes — every night before braiding it.

It was a ritual she still followed. The mindless repetitive tasks of brushing her hair helped her unwind from the hustle and bustle of the day and settle down for the night.

Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine... A dreamy smile tilted the corners of her lips upwards as she skimmed the brush lazily through her golden hair.

If she closed her eyes, she was back in the garden, dancing under a starlit sky — with Keith — her husband! The thought filled her with pride and tenderness. She couldn't help but remember how wonderful it had felt to be held by him.

Although the security in the condominium was flawless, Keith refused to take any chances with Allura's safety. He stealthily moved around the condominium, checking the doors and windows, in a final patrol before turning in for the night.

The soft dim light that spilled out of Allura's room caught his attention. She was still awake. He peeked into the partially opened door, intending to wish her good night.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw her. He had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. His princess was a breathtaking vision in white silk and lace.

He called her name that was quiet, but was in some undefinable way, proprietary.

She opened her eyes and saw him standing only a foot away, his hair untamed as usual, his eyes dark unreadable in the dim light. A blush immediately bloomed on her cheeks. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I... I just wanted to check up on you. To see if you were okay." Keith said self-consciously. Without being aware of what he was doing, he had suddenly found himself inside her room.

Allura set down her brush and Keith fought down the disappointment that welled in his chest. He wanted to ask her to continue brushing her hair, but he was certain that the request would sound ridiculous.

Another smile touched Allura's lips. "I'm fine, Keith." Her eyes sparkled with amusement and a hint of exasperation, "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not fragile."

Keith shook his head. Couldn't she see how wrong she was? Didn't she know how she looked right now, her thin white gown flowing down, her hair smooth and shining in the dim lamplight?

He suddenly realized that he had never seen her hair this way before — loose and tumbling down over slim shoulders, without any of the intricate braids that normally constrained it. Of its own volition, his hand reached out to touch the glistening golden strands.

Keith's hand slid down to touch Allura's soft cheek. Their eyes met and the air around them crackled with awareness. For a long, endless moment, they stared into each other's eyes.

He reached out to run his knuckles down the side of her cheek. His dark head lowered as he leaned closer and then still closer, studying her face feature by feature.

Allura watched his gaze settle on her mouth and was helpless to suppress the sweet tangle of emotions rising in her. Her heart thudded in anticipation, and in that moment, she wanted nothing more than to feel his lips against hers.

His kiss, when he finally lowered his lips to hers, was as soft as a whisper but more powerful than a hurricane.

Wave after wave of sensation washed through Allura's senses as his lips tasted and courted hers. She inclined her head, yielding to his tutoring, instinctively imitating his gentle pressure and complementing the angle of his mouth with hers.

Keith's hands slid around Allura's slender waist and he drew her slowly to him, enfolding her with exquisite care. She clung to him, innocently and unconsciously, molding her body to his.

He deepened the kiss and she gasped in surprise. She had never experienced anything so potent, so pleasurably intimate, so wholly involving. Her body hummed, resonant with pleasure.

Keith felt her confusion, and, with an effort that was almost painful, he dragged his mouth from hers. He looked down at her with hooded eyes. Her skin was flushed, her lips were swollen with the effect of his kisses and her eyes were soft and dreamy.

The sight of her unfolding passions aroused something new and unexpectedly sweet inside him. He had known his fair share of women, but in all his life, he had never felt anything like this, never wanted a woman as badly as he wanted this one.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to step away, knowing that if he stayed, he wouldn't be able to keep his hands off her. She deserved much more than his lust, his princess deserved to be honored and cherished.

Allura watched him uncertainly as the silence stretched between them, thick and heavy. She felt compelled to break it. "Keith?" She whispered, reluctantly removing her hand from his chest as he backed out into the hallway.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Princess. Good night and pleasant dreams," He replied, flashing her a quicksilver smile filled with warmth as he firmly shut the door to his room.


	23. Chapter 22

Lance glanced at his wristwatch and tried to conceal a yawn. It was morning — not one of his favorite times of the day — and he was stuck in another "briefing" session, watching news dispatches.

Unfortunately, for him, the "news" that Galaxy Garrison regularly transmitted to Arus was never very interesting. More often than not, the videos were filled with the promotional fluff that the Garrison Public Affairs office designed to improve the morale of its troops. The hard-core news, if there were any, generally was limited to current events in distant planets that he barely remembered.

He couldn't help but notice how, in its infinite "wisdom," the Public Affairs department of Galaxy Garrison chose to focus on the social events of the officials stationed in Terra and other major Garrison locations.

He slouched lower in his seat and idly began to catalog the reactions of the other people with him. He chuckled quietly under his breath — it was obvious that he wasn't the only bored person in the room.

Hunk was contentedly snoring away, dead to the world. Jeff was reading a thick progress report from Galaxy Garrison about the training of the Vehicle team and Pidge was doodling into a touch-pad, probably working on another invention.

Coran was the only one paying attention to the news feed and it looked like the Arussian Prime Minister was enjoying it. But then, Lance reminded himself, Coran was a diplomat and the social scene was his natural habitat.

He did a double take as he noticed two familiar faces fill the screen. He bolted up and pointed at the screen of the conference room. "Hey guys, look! It's Keith and the Princess!"

"*Captain, you were considered one of Galaxy Garrison's finest officers. Do you regret giving up your career for love? Do you think you'll miss what you have now?*"

"Good question," Hunk remarked as they waited for Keith's answer.

"*I'm not giving up anything, I joined GG because I wanted my life to make a difference, and that's exactly what Allura and I do on Arus. She rules it and I back her up.*"

Jeff hooted with laughter. "Yeah right, that'll be the day. Keith in a number two position? Naah. Will never happen."

"Shh..." Pidge said, shooting an irritated glare in Jeff's general direction as he reached for the volume controls. "Be quiet. I want to hear what the Princess is saying."

"*...As commander of the Voltron Force, he and the others have given the people of the dozens of planets their lives and freedom back, but they've also given them something infinitely more precious...*"

The camera zoomed in for a close-up and focused on Allura's face. Her extraordinary blue eyes shone with a mixture of gratitude, admiration and love as she smiled up at her husband.

"Hope."

There was a long moment of appreciative silence before Lance broke it with an small embarrassed laugh. "Gee, I didn't know how much she thought of us. Was that why she knighted us a few months ago, Coran?"

Receiving no answer, he glanced over at the Prime Minister. His gaze sharpened with alarm and concern as he noticed the how pale the man had become. "CORAN!?"

"HAGGAR!" Zarkon of Doom shouted. His voice echoed loudly through the cold, empty hall of his throne room. "Where are you witch?!"

"My Lord?" The air was filled with the smell of putrid flesh as a brown cloaked figure emerged from the darkness. "You summoned me?"

"Yes..." Zarkon hissed. His yellow reptilian eyes had a look that was not quite anger. "Come closer, old witch so that I can see you."

Haggar stepped closer into the dim light. Under the concealing cowl she wore, her face displayed a strange fear, as it always did whenever she faced Zarkon. It was Haggar's most secret of secrets. Despite all her powers, the witch was terrified of Zarkon.

Zarkon triggered the controls on the ornately carved golden scepter that he carried with him at all times. "Let me show you something very interesting."

The screen flickered to life only to display the image of Allura of Arus. "... he and the others have given the people of the dozens of planets their lives and freedom back..."

Haggar turned to stare at the king in confusion. "That's Princess Allura," she stated the obvious. "She married the young captain of the Voltron Force. I believe that they were visiting Terra on their wedding trip."

"*... but they've also given them something infinitely more precious — Hope.*"

At the same instant that Haggar gasped in recognition, a jeweled goblet flew through the air and hit the monitor. An intricate spider-web of cracks blossomed across the glass.

Haggar stared at monitor in disbelief. She knew the mark on Allura's shoulder. She had first seen it in a vision — the phoenix that foretold her doom and she had seen it often since.

She had it burnt into the backs of screaming slaves before throwing them into turning them into ro-beasts to compete in the arena for his entertainment. On her orders, Zarkon's armies etched it onto a mountain of every planet that he conquered before leveling the mountain to the ground, in a dramatic display of the strength and power of the forces of Doom.

Silence echoed in the great hall. The thick red wine that had filled Zarkon's goblet trickled down Allura's distorted cheek as though the princess had been wounded by the sharp shards of glass.

Haggar studied Zarkon covertly, trying to discern his mood. His outward appearance, as he leaned back and drummed his fingers against his overly embellished throne, did not give her any clues.

She whispered a few words in the secret tongue of the ancients and cast a simple scrye spell, hoping to see into Zarkon's mind. But, much to her consternation, the spell fizzled.

Her mouth twisted with bitter disappointment. The dark forces that fueled her magic had given their blessings to Zarkon and as a result, the king of Doom was one of the few people immune to her magic.

She forced herself to wait patiently.

An eternity passed before Zarkon stirred.

He growled, deep in the back of his throat and looked up with hooded eyes. His tone, when he finally spoke, was even and his voice was eerily soft. "She is the one you warned me about? The one who would be instrumental in bringing about the end of my empire?"

"Yes, Sire." Haggar concurred. Knowing how selfish Zarkon was with his troops, she had taken the precaution of twisting the Phoenix prophecy to her own ends to ensure his complete cooperation in her pursuit of the Phoenix.

"Kill her, old witch. I don't care what you do with her. I want her dead.""

Haggar's black heart jumped with excitement and she lowered her eyes to conceal her exultation. Zarkon had made a fatal! Her mind whirled madly as she began to make her plans, but her visage did not give a hint of the treachery in her thoughts.

She nodded subserviently, "As thou will, so mote it be."


	24. Chapter 23

Bright morning sun glanced off the windowpanes, shining directly into Allura's closed eyelids. She reluctantly opened her eyes, and rolled onto her back.

A faint smile teased the corners of her lips as she stretched out a hand and touched the pillow next to her, where Keith's dark head had rested when he stayed with her after her nightmare.

She felt truly cherished for the first time since her father had died. She knew instinctively that her happiness was of real importance to Keith, even if he didn't love her.

"Maybe love really didn't matter", she thought, with a reluctant sigh as she swung her legs of the bed. "Maybe it's enough that he cares about me and that I care about him."

Dismayed with the direction of her thoughts, she reached for her dressing gown. Be happy, she reminded herself as she shoved her feet into her satin slippers and pushed her lingering doubts aside.

The morning sun continued to shine brightly as Keith finally began to surface from his deep slumber. A sense of well being filled him and oddly enough, its unfamiliarity awakened him.

He rolled onto his stomach as awareness returned and he became aware of something else — the delicious smells floating in the air. He sleepily stood up and followed his nose to the kitchen.

When Keith strolled in the kitchen, the air was filled with the delicious smells and the haunting notes of an unfamiliar melody that was romantic and somehow sad.

His eyes roved around the room and settled on Allura, standing by the stove, singing softly under her breath. A lazy smile drifted across his face as she stood silhouetted against the sunlight streaming from the window.

Surprisingly, what caught his attention wasn't the slim feminine shadow he saw for a brief moment. Allura had a certain purity to her face, as well as a confidence and awareness of self that he found irresistible

With very little effort, he could imagine her standing there, in that very spot, a year from now, even fifty years from now, still setting off that stirring in his blood.

Without knowing it, Keith's smile softened and widened.

He stepped into the room and poured himself a cup of coffee. He leaned closely against the counter and took an appreciative sniff. For the first time in a long time, he could take his time growing fully awake.

He enjoyed his sleepy confusion. It was a rare luxury for someone who was used to being rudely woken up by the persistent chimes of his chronograph or the strident klaxons of the Castle alarm systems.

Allura smiled gently as she caught sight of her husband. He was leaning against the counter with an endearingly befuddled expression on his face.

She suddenly had a vision of how their son would look like after waking up from a nap— a chubby little boy with her blue eyes and Keith's dark unruly hair — and her heart filled with love and longing.

Laughter flickered in her eyes as she studied her sleepy husband. For once, she had him at a disadvantage. It was her chance to get even for all the times that he had called lion practice before she had the chance to come fully awake.

She sang a few words in the ancient language of Cador and allowed images to form in her mind's eye. She waved her hands in the air and the colored stones on her wedding ring caught the light, casting rainbows onto the white walls of the airy kitchen.

In response to her spell, kitchen implements danced around the kitchen. Cabinets and drawers opened, unaided by human hands. Dishes and silverware flew out of the shelves, setting themselves gently on the table.

Allura watched with mischievous glee as Keith's eyes widened and his jaw slackened. She stifled a giggle of delight at the way he was holding his coffee mug — as though it were the only tangible thing in a world gone mad.

She offered him her sweetest smile even as her eyes danced with suppressed laughter. "Good morning, Keith. What would you like for breakfast?"

"Anything would be fine, thank you." Keith said weakly as he moved forward on unsteady legs. He sat down at the kitchen table and looked around with stupefied bemusement.

A thick slab of ham flew through the air only to land on a dancing plate. Slices of spiced toast jumped out of the toaster. A pitcher poured juice into the waiting glasses.

He took another large swallow of coffee, hoping that the caffeine would help him wake up. He remembered a book that his grandmother had insisted that he read as a child — Alice in Wonderland. He was beginning to feel like Alice tumbling down a rabbit-hole into a new and strange world.


	25. Chapter 24

There was no doubt in the minds of everyone that Galaxy Garrison Command owed much to the wizardry of Arussian scientists. Under the leadership of King Alfor, Arus donated the technology necessary to build Vehicle Voltron.

But, military analysts often suggested that Arus' most important contribution to the Galactic Alliance was not Vehicle Voltron. Rather, it was the donation of the technology used in the Tactical Simulators at the Space Academy.

The Tactical Simulators were a source of great pride to the Academy officials. The simulators trained hundreds of cadets every year — teaching them how to keep their cool under fire and make prudent, often split-second level decisions.

It was no surprise that an entire generation of the cadets called the TacSim building the "Danger Zone" — the simulators created a virtual world so real that it was overwhelming.

Much to the dismay of the cadets and officers who had to undergo simulator training and the concern of the medical corps, the TacSim Training Techs took great pride in surpassing themselves by crafting difficult scenarios that pushed the participants to their limits.

Orensol Occupation, the currently running scenario, was one of the most famous scenarios. Its difficulty was legendary. It had been developed almost a decade ago, but no one had ever managed to beat it.

The scenario, set in the midst of a major land/air battle over the capital of Ornesol, was designed to enhance teamwork and cooperation between wingmen. Its tri-fold goals were deceptively simple. Defend yourself. Defend your wingmates. Defend your world.

Just a normal day in the lives of the Voltron Force, Keith thought wryly, watching Crik's Sea Team run through the scenario from his command post in the Control Room.

Keith winced sympathetically as he saw Tangor's ship caught in the crossfire between a troop carrier and friendly fire from the city's defense system. Smoke blossomed from the side of the ship as it plunged to the ground.

The monitors in the control room shimmered and faded to black. As the last "surviving" member of the Sea Team, Tangor's "crash" signaled the end of the simulation.

The ranking training tech on duty glanced at Keith, "Sir. It will take a few moments to compile the scenario again with the appropriate degree of randomness."

Keith nodded, "Go on the compile. I'll just conduct my post-training evaluation then." He grabbed his data pad and hurried down the black iron staircase to the cruise-stations where Crik and his team sat.

Crik sighed heavily as he climbed out of his cruise station. He watched his teammates, carefully gauging their physical and mental states and saw his own exhaustion mirrored in their faces as well.

The Sea Team had been overwhelmed by the swarm of fighters in the skies of Ornesol and had lost sight of their focus. A wave of guilt washed over him as he realized that he hadn't been able to rally his team. If this had been a real battle...

A sympathetic hand on his shoulder stopped his bitter self-recriminations. "You did all you could. No sense in wasting energy in beating yourself up over it," Keith said quietly, before starting the post-exercise wrap-up.

Crik nodded and perched on the nose of his cruise station. The rest of the sea team took up similar positions and turned their attention to the dark haired captain standing in the middle of the room.

"Your individual scores were well above average for the first part of the scenario, but they started sliding after we added more targets," Keith said.

He held up the data pad. "The computer analysis is here if any of you is interested, but this is the gist of it. You lost sight of the mission objective — to destroy the enemy field headquarters."

Crik's face contorted in a grimace.

"—and you also forgot the most basic tenant of combat flying. Protect your wingman."

"Well, since you know so much, Captain, why don't YOU show us how it's done?" Shannon snapped peevishly. His frustration at being the first ship down lent a sharp edge to his voice.

Keith stared down at his data pad for a brief instant before looking at the hotheaded flyer. His mouth turned up in a characteristic lopsided grin. "You're on, Lieutenant. Let Allura and me show you EXACTLY how it's done."

 **Cliff's voice, instantly recognizable because of his distinct accent, rang out through the loudspeakers. "Keith, we're ready to roll up here. How are the two of you doing down there?"**

Keith glanced at Allura's cruise station to ascertain his wife's readiness. Seeing that she was already strapped in, he sent her an encouraging grin before she disappeared from view as a TacSim trainer lowered the hatch of her cruise station.

"Ready and waiting," Keith asserted, as a thick opaque bubble descended over his own cruise station.

"Okay, Lions. Good hunting." Cliff replied. "Hope you guys do better than we did... Orensol Occupation starting on my mark. Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Mark!"

The air in the cruise stations thickened and grayed and for a second, Allura fought a wave of nausea as her eyes and mind adjusted to the virtual reality state.

She recognized the cockpit of the Blue Lion instantly and marveled at how "real" it was. She could feel the yaw, pitch and roll motions of her lion and hear the noise of her engines.

She automatically adjusted her position, flying a little behind, below and to the left of the Black Lion making sure that she wasn't in the line of fire of any of Keith's weapons.

A glance at the external view in her main control monitor told her that beside her, Keith was doing the same, forming up on her position and giving her a clean line of fire.

A ferocious battle raged around them.

Allura began to check her scopes and gasped in alarm. Flashing lights. "Incoming missiles, Keith!" she cried out, automatically throwing her ship into evasive maneuvers.

Seeing that Keith couldn't evade in time, she twisted her lion into a sharp turn that brought her within firing range and fired her ice ray. The inert missiles fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Thanks, Princess," Keith said, with a quick glance at her before lowering his eyes to the monitors in front of him. "But be careful. Your tail almost got singed there."

Allura just smiled and shook her head, not at all offended by her husband's stern tone. She playfully batted his lion across the nose with the Blue Lion's tail before throwing herself into the fracas again.

Chuckling quietly under his breath, Keith studied his instruments, orienting himself with the situation. He chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully as he concentrated, improvising a workable battle plan.

More enemy fighters appeared in the skies. Corkscrewing tails of projectiles crisscrossed with the hyphens and pulses of laser fire. Explosions blossomed overhead.

Dancing and dodging enemy and friendly fire, the lions held their position in the Ornesol skies for several minutes while Keith formulated their battle plan...

In the control room, the Vehicle Team watched the proceedings in the Ornesol skies from the huge inverted bowl of the control room canopy and by the tracking displays and tactical readout screens.

To the last man, their eyes were wide and their jaws slackened with disbelief. Their expression was mirrored in the faces of the jaded TacSim Training Techs.

"Holy crap," the ranking TacSim broke the silence, voicing out loud the thoughts of everyone else in the room. "They're actually beating the Ornesol scenario. No one has EVER done that before."

The monitors showed a macabre dance of destruction.

The Lions had reached their objective — the floating command center of the invading army and were chopping away it with alternating bursts of weapon fire. The Black Lion would fire short highly controlled bursts of flame at the heavily armored craft and then dart away to provide cover for the Blue Lion as it fired its ice rays.

From their position in the control room, the Vehicle Team couldn't hear the hiss of the compromised seals or the parting of welds and seams but they could imagine them.

Smoke drifted out of the crippled command center. It shuddered once, then twice and then suddenly ceased to be in a blinding explosion of light and color.

Allura smiled up at her husband as he opened the hatch of her cruise station. "How'd we do?" She asked, getting to her feet and pulling off her flight helmet. Tendrils of honey-colored hair escaped from her bun and fell about her face.

Keith didn't need to glance down at his data pad for confirmation. "All things considered, we did pretty well, although we should probably work on our evasive maneuvers more. We had a couple of close calls."

He swept Allura off her feet and set her down outside the cruise station, keeping his hands on her slender waist. A strange emotion glimmered in his dark eyes as he looked down at his wife.

"What is it?" Allura asked with a small smile. She half-expected a prescription for more training when they returned to Arus and prepared her apology to Lance, Pidge and Hunk.

"Nothing." Keith said, shaking his head with a smile that made Allura's heart skip a beat. He reached into the pocket of his flight suit and pulled out a small velvet bag out of his pocket. His heart pounded with nervousness and hope – would Allura like his gift?

Allura gasped with surprise as Keith opened the bag and displayed his gift, a bracelet with a charm fashioned in the shape of the wings worn by Space Explorers. "Oh, Keith," she breathed. "It's beautiful."

"I got it while you were out shopping," Keith grinned self-consciously as he fastened the bracelet around Allura's wrist, his normally nimble fingers fumbling with the dainty clasp. "I hope you like it."

Touched beyond words by his gift, Allura answering smile was like sunshine after the rain. Anchoring her weight on Keith's forearms, she raised herself up on tiptoes and impulsively pressed a soft kiss onto his husband's cheek.

Aching to take his wife into his arms and kiss her breathless, Keith settled for smiling down into Allura's lustrous eyes and tucking a rebellious lock of hair behind her ear. "You made me proud back there, Ally. You really deserve your own pair of wings."

They stared at each other in silence, forgetting about the curious eyes watching them from the control room. Electricity flowed between them and for a brief moment, the world and all its distractions melted away.

The sudden sound of footsteps climbing down the stairway broke the spell. Keith reacted instinctively, as his training and protective nature dictated, settling himself in a defensive position.

He relaxed his battle-ready stance when he saw Lisa standing at the foot of the black iron stairway even though his eyes sharpened with worry and alarm at the set expression on the space explorer's delicate face.

Lisa stood quietly, but she was unconsciously wringing her hands with worry. "Princess?" She said quietly, looking at Allura with concern in her expressive dark eyes. "There's an urgent call for you... It's Lance."

 **With a grateful smile at the TacSim Training Tech who stood to allow her to sit, Allura settled herself in front of the oversized monitor in the Control Room.**

The technician pressed a few buttons and multicolored lines of static appeared on the screen. Lance's face appeared, broken by interference, only to reappear.

Keith studied his best friend's face intently and heaved a sigh of relief to see that he seemed unhurt. Some of his worry lifted at the sight of Castle Control behind Lance — it seemed normal as well.

"Castle Control? Do you read me?" Keith said with a quick glance at the technician manning the communications console. "Can you boost the signal a little? It's fading in and out."

The lines of interference disappeared and Lance's face filled the entire screen. "Hey Princess. Keith." Lance called out as he saw his best friend standing behind Allura.

"Lance. What's wrong? Is everyone okay? Did Lotor attack" Allura asked, worriedly.

"Arus is fine, Princess," Lance threw Allura a quick smile to reassure her, but his dark eyes were lacked their normal deviltry. "For the most part, Lotor's been behaving himself."

Keith raised a sardonic eyebrow. "But something happened."

"If you mean Lotor, then we took care of him." Lance grinned, but Allura couldn't help but notice how his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"What happened, Lance?" she asked quietly, although her tone made it clear that her words were a demand rather than a question.

Lance's eyes sought out Allura. The sarcasm and humor that normally colored his speech were missing and his voice was unusually gentle. "It's Coran, Princess. He's had another attack."

Allura's eyes darkened with unshed tears and she leaned back against her husband's solid reassuring frame. Her hand blindly reached out for him.

Keith wrapped his arms around her in silent support. "How bad was it?" he asked, filled with apprehension.

"Doctor Gorma said it wasn't as bad as the last attack he had." Lance shrugged carelessly, but his hands told a different story. I worry, he signed briefly, using the sign language they had been taught by the academy. Come back if you can.

Keith nodded gravely and glanced down at Allura's pale worried face with concern. "Noted, Lance. Tell the others that we'll leave immediately and that we'll be there as soon as we can."


	26. Chapter 25

Keith made plans for their immediate departure with his usual ruthless efficiency. Within an hour, he had finalized the arrangements for their trip to Arus.

He contacted Garrison Command and coaxed Space Marshall Graham into allowing them hitch a ride on the Havilland, a high-speed troop transport heading towards Mariis, a small outpost in the Far Galaxy.

Unlike the other ships in the Garrison Fleet, the Havilland— and the other ships of its class — used stakiton-powered warp drives, capable of propelling ships at incredible speeds. As a result, the Havilland was capable of making the journey to Arus in a mere 48 hours, instead of the normal 64 hours.

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully, as he considered the inherent disadvantages in his plan. The incredible speed of the Havilland meant that it would have to travel without an armed escort, but it also meant that the ship should be able to outrun any possible hostile craft.

It should be safe enough.

Although he would have preferred a direct trip to Arus, in the relative safety of the Havilland, the ship would only be able to take them to the outskirts of the Leona system, where Arus was located.

The ship needed to get to Mariis ASAP. A disease was sweeping across the outpost and the death toll was rising rapidly. The situation there was dire. The outpost urgently needed the help of the medical team onboard the Havilland as well as the medical supplies that the ship carried.

With a heavy sigh, Keith sent a coded message to Arus, using a special code that Pidge devised for the exclusive use of the members of the Voltron Force, to inform them about the final plans.

"Castle Control, this is Altaire," Keith reported. "We've entered the Leona system and are beginning our descent on Arus now."

The communications monitor shimmered to life and Pidge's face appeared on screen. He grinned broadly, revealing two small dimples on each cheek. "Greetings, Your Highnesses!" He chirped brightly.

The welcoming grin on the face of the youngest member of the Voltron Force did much to lift Keith's spirits and alleviate his worry. Pidge wouldn't have been in such high spirits if Coran's condition was as serious as they feared.

"Pidge!" Keith scolded in mock-annoyance that was only partly feigned. "How many times have I told you NOT to call me Your Highness. It's just Keith, remember?"

"Yes sir, Captain Just Keith, sir!" Pidge parroted, grinning merrily all the while. "Lance, Hunk and Sven are on their way there to escort you home. You should see their lions any minute now."

He sobered and turned to Allura. "And Princess, before you start thinking that I'm an insensitive jerk, Doctor Gorma says that Coran's condition has improved considerably since we talked to you last."

"Thank you, Pidge. That's good to hear." Allura replied graciously. "But I would never think that you were an insensitive jerk... That's Lance's job."

"PRINCESS!" Lance's outraged face appeared in a small window on the communications monitor as the Red Lion fell into place beside the Altaire. "I resent that!"

Keith chuckled and made a few adjustments on his console so that they could see Hunk and Sven as well. "You can't blame Ally for thinking that, Lance. She spent a lot of time with Ginger... and she heard ALL the stories about you."

"Yikes! Was the Spice Girl still as ditzy as ever?" Lance asked with an exaggerated grimace that quickly faded as he saw the censure in Allura's eyes. "Just kidding, Princess. Old habits are hard to break."

"Even though, Lance," Allura scolded him lightly. "That still wasn't very gentlemanly of you. Picking on someone who isn't even around to defend herself!"

"Speaking of not around," Keith said casually, "has Jeff left already?"

Hunk nodded. "Yes. You just missed him. He left Arus space about 3 hours ago. When he checked in an hour ago, his shuttle was already in the Zadi system."

Pidge chuckled out loud. "Yeah. You guys are around four hours late, you know. So much for the much-vaunted stakiton-drives!"

"Sorry, Pidge," Keith replied, "but you can't really blame the drives for that. There was an abnormally high amount of solar activity in the Cephia system, so we had to detour around it."

"Oh look, Keith," Allura breathed, laying a hand on her husband's arm to call his attention. She pointed at the huge blue marble suspended in the blackness of space. "It's Arus!"

Keith smiled indulgently and lifted a hand from his controls to touch Allura's soft cheek. "Yes, Princess," he agreed. "It's Arus. We're home."

Allura's heart melted when she heard him call Arus home and she flashed him a brilliant smile. She lifted her hand to touch his and trap it against her cheek.

Keith's eyes warmed and his thumb gently stroked the back of Allura's hand in an unconscious caress.

The rest of the Force watched them with indulgent amusement, until Sven laughingly called Keith's attention back to his piloting duties. "You MIGHT consider starting preparations for atmospheric re-entry, Your Highness."

"Of course," Keith said crisply, shooting Sven a withering glare, even as he felt his face and the back of his neck warm.

Laughter began to fill the comm-channel.

Keith immediately bent his head, trying to hide the embarrassed color staining his cheeks by busying himself with the re-entry, a basic procedure that he had done so often in the past that he could do it blindfolded.

The laughter grew louder, telling him that he had not entirely succeeded.

With his hand hovering over his control panel, Keith glared at his laughing teammates. "I'm going to cut communication for a while, so we'll see you on the ground. Altaire signing out."

He switched off the comm channel and grinned ruefully at his wife. "My ears are burning. Why do I have the feeling that I've given them enough ammunition for a year-long Keith-roast?"

"Because you have." Allura's eyes danced with amusement as she glanced up from her controls. "Shield strength is at 180, Keith. We are clear for atmospheric re-entry."

"Okay, Princess. Let's go home," Keith replied as the blackness of space gave way to an incredible circle of lavender, blue-green, and some violet, surrounding a central yellow-orange core as the Altaire was recaptured by Arus' gravity.

The ship descended gracefully and leveled off into a deep rosy lavender sky that was rapidly darkening to a velvety blue-purple. The Red, Blue and Yellow Lions flanked the Altaire, leading it to its designated landing zone.

Here and there, the dusky violet darkness of the night was broken by pinpricks of light, where the people of Arus lit bonfires to welcome their Princess home in an age-old tradition.

Nanny squinted up into the twilight sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Altaire, but all she could make out was the streaks of color that were the three lions escorting the Princess' ship.

Her eyes narrowed as a lingering sense of unease washed over her. She couldn't help but notice the shadowy gloom in the twilight sky. She had never seen a sky like this one.

Its shadowy depths held the promise of the blackest night that she had ever seen, without even a single star to relieve the heavy veil of darkness.

She let out an uneasy breath. Evil feeds on darkness, Betta. She reminded herself, remembering the warnings incorporated in the ancient legends of Cador.

She sensed the magical stirring in the air around her. Something was going to happen — tonight — when the forces of darkness would be at their strongest.

Certainty crawled over her skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake. Crossing herself, Nanny muttered a short prayer, for herself, for her Little Princess and for the men who served and protected them all.


	27. Chapter 26

Keith glared balefully at the piles of paper — official communiqués, memos and reports — spread across his desk and scattered on the floor and wished that they would go away. Paperwork. He hated paperwork. No, he corrected himself with a grimace. He loathed paperwork, especially when he had so much of it to do.

But still, he would rather wrestle with his paperwork than deal with Nanny, he consoled himself, remembering how Nanny had autocratically demanded Allura's attention immediately after the formal ceremonies celebrating their safe arrival.

Allura. His wife. The thought brought a smile to his face and seemed to lighten his load. He allowed himself the luxury of a few moments to daydream before tackling the rest of the paperwork on his desk.

The computer on his desk began to beep insistently. Its console lights blinked furiously in alarming colors — flashing yellow, then orange then red — in an insistent demand for attention.

Keith turned to his console, eyes narrowed with irritation at having his daydream interrupted. "Alright, alright, already," he grumbled, casting an infuriated glance at the helpless machine. "Check messages," he commanded.

"You have one thousand, six hundred and ten messages," a synthesized voice announced.

Keith slumped in his chair, resigning himself to many more hours of mind-numbing paperwork. "Activate Filter. Show all unread reports submitted by the other members of the Voltron Force."

"Working... three messages satisfy the selected criteria," the synthesized voice replied. "Displaying first message. Sender is Lt. Darrel Stokker, VFAD."

"Generate hard copy of all three reports," Keith ordered with a frustrated sigh, rubbing his temples in an attempt to ease the headache he could feel building there.

He chose to read Lance's intelligence rundown first and was glad that he did. He could almost hear his first officer's voice reciting the report — it was filled with the astute observations and biting comments that Lance routinely threw out.

Keith was genuinely sorry when he put it away — not just because it was interesting, but because it marked the downward trend that the years of commanding the Lion Force taught him to expect.

Hunk's report was next and Keith winced inwardly as he skimmed through it, penciling in corrections. He always felt more like an editor than a field commander whenever he read through one of Hunk's reports. Writing was not one of Hunk's strengths.

Pidge's report was the exact opposite of Hunk's — the smallest space explorer enjoyed showing off his extensive vocabulary while the largest preferred to express his thoughts with words of one syllable.

Twenty minutes passed as Keith strove to make sense of Pidge's report. The technical jargon and numbers that peppered the report were overwhelming. He called up the dictionary on his computer in self-defense.

"The prioritization settings of the various Castle Defense systems is governed by a queued series of interrupt requests transmitted over the shared bus to be processed FIFO by the Castle Control CPU," he read slowly, without much comprehension.

"Maybe the pictures will help," Keith muttered hopefully as he flipped through the pages of the thick report. They didn't. His eyes begin to blur as he tried to understand the system diagram Pidge presented in excruciating detail.

It was time to take a break.

Without another thought, he stretched out on the couch, not even pausing to pull of the white boots of his flight suit. Closing his eyes with a tired sigh, he enjoyed the embrace of cushions that were as soft as a cloud and just as comfortable.

He was asleep within minutes.

Cautiously opening the door, Allura peered into the darkened interior of Keith's study, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit interior after the brightness of the hallway.

The light of the computer on Keith's desk was blinking a steady green, indicating that the computer had taken over environmental controls of the room. Its lighted monitor cast a bluish tinge on everything — the desk, the bare hardwood floors, and the papers and books scattered around the large room.

Allura took a few steps further into the room, pushing a cart before her.

Her mouth twitched with amusement as her gaze fell on Keith's infamous couch. It was the latest source of conflict between her husband and her governess. Nanny insisted that the current condition of the couch did not befit the study of the Prince Consort of Arus while Keith stubbornly refused to let anyone near his favorite piece of furniture.

Allura knelt by the couch for a few moments and listened to the soft, even sound of Keith's breathing as he slept. A soft smile lit up her face, as she indulged in the luxury of watching him without consequence or question.

In sleep, his face was soft and boyish and his hair was spiked in a dozen different directions. Not, she reminded herself with a silent laugh, that his hair was neat even when he was awake.

She wondered if he had ever watched her sleep. He probably had, she decided. Even in sleep, she had sensed his presence. His nearness called to her and soothed her, in a way that she couldn't understand.

Keith grumbled in his sleep, shivering a little.

Allura shook her head with a wry smile. Keith was solicitous of everyone's welfare but his own. She reached down and covered him with the light blanket that she found draped over the back of the sofa with hands that were unmistakably tender.

His soft murmurs of contentment made her smile grow wider.

She watched Keith burrow under the blanket and almost disappear into its folds. The only visible parts of him were his unruly black hair and the white boots that hung over the edge of the sofa.

Allura got to her feet and began to tidy up the room. It never ceased to amaze her a compulsive organizer like Keith could be such a slob. His study was proof enough of that.

The coffee table alone was an appalling mess.

Allura decided to exercise her wifely prerogative by starting there, knowing that it not been dusted ever since Keith banned the housekeeping staff of the Castle from entering the room.

She focused her eyes and then her mind on the books on the table. In the next moment, the books went flying to the air to join the others shoved helter-skelter into the shelves.

She picked up the papers scattered on the floor herself and arranged them in two neat piles, placing a ceremonial dagger from Pollux on one and something that she recognized as the claw of one of Haggar's miniature ro-beasts on the other.

Within minutes, the study had some semblance of order.

Allura heaved a sigh of relief.

She was a creature with a need for orderliness in her personal surroundings — and her home definitely counted as one of those places. It was something that Keith — and the rest of the team — often teased her about.

She briefly toyed with the idea of ordering a general cleaning session for Keith's study, but in the interests of marital peace, settled for regarding the rest of the room with a critical eye.

Her eye was drawn to the large picture window that took up almost the entire wall of the study. Would adding drapes make the room cozier? Allura wondered, idly glancing at the night outside the windows.

Her heart suddenly ached with fear as her eyes widened with recognition. The night had the same inky blackness that she had seen in her dreams. The sense of destiny imminent grew stronger.

Allura tore her haunted gaze away from the dark sky with an effort.

She lit a lamp in a desperate attempt to chase the shadows out of the room. She searched for something to distract herself with and found it in the cart that she had wheeled into the room.

She unpacked the cart's contents, with hands that shook slightly, hoping that the mindless task would help her forget the foreboding settling in the pit of her stomach.

She finished laying out the food and drinks Nanny prepared for Keith and prepared to leave. She had barely risen to her full height when she was stopped by something tugging at her skirts.

With a muffled yelp of surprise, Allura found herself yanked off her feet only to find herself cradled on top of the prone form of her husband. "Keith!"

"Hey, Ally," Keith's mouth tilted in a sleepily lopsided grin as he wrapped his arms around her, an embrace that sent shivers of delight running up her spine. "I thought I smelled you."

She arched a delicate eyebrow and managed a light-hearted rejoinder, trying not to be affected by his closeness. "Oh really? And what DO I smell like?"

"You smell pretty," Keith mumbled, rubbing his cheek against the curling softness of her hair and running his hands down the graceful curve of her back. "Like roses and sunshine and laughter and rainbows."

"You can't smell laughter and rainbows," Allura scoffed, raising herself on an elbow so that she could look at him. A shadow of sadness chased across her face. Something in her eyes softened and strengthened all at once.

"Ally?" Keith asked, sensing her sudden shift in mood. His arms tightened around his wife's slender waist and his eyes narrowed with concern. "What's wrong?

Allura shook her head, refusing to meet his dark eyes with her own.

"Nothing," she breathed, slowly leaning forward to touch her mouth to his. "Please, don't talk," she whispered achingly against his mouth. "Just kiss me."

Keith's ironclad control broke and all of his noble intentions fled in the face of Allura's whispered entreaty. With a heartfelt groan, his arms wrapped around her and he luxuriated in the feel of her against him.

The soft rasp of fabric against his fingers as he ran his hands across Allura's soft curves was torturous to his strained nerves. But the way his princess quivered under his lightest touch and the way her breath caught in stunned surrender added sweetness to the desire.

He tapped into a reservoir of strength that he didn't know he possessed and found tenderness. He smiled gently at his wife just before he lowered his mouth to hers. An eternity seemed to pass as Keith lost himself in the silent wonder promise of their kiss and the blind searing joy he felt as a new unspoken bond formed between them.

Dragging his mouth away from hers with an effort, Keith brushed kisses against the delicate skin of Allura's cheeks and jaw, tempting himself with the sweetness he found there. "Princess Mine," he murmured huskily, his breath a butterfly caress on her skin.

He groaned again, with satisfaction this time, as Allura raised her head so that she could meet his mouth with hers. He deepened the kiss, and his fingers tangled in the silky length of Allura's hair.

Whistling softly under his breath, Lance sauntered down the hallway leading to Keith's private study and opened the door without announcing himself, as was his habit. "Hey Cap, I have —"

He blinked in shock as he took in the unexpected sight of Keith kissing the princess. Lance gasped in surprise and a shocked oath rose unbidden to his lips.

Jolted back to reality, by the unexpected sound of Lance's voice, Allura broke away from Keith and sat up. She bit her lip self-consciously, not realizing how the action highlighted their kiss-swollen state.

"—something to ask you," Lance finished his sentence weakly, stepping aside automatically as Allura fled the room with a barely audible excuse, not quite able to meet his eyes.

Even in the dim light of the room, he couldn't help but notice Allura's appearance as she passed him. Her cheeks were as pink as her dress and her hair — hadn't it been arranged in its normal braids earlier? – was tousled and lay in disarray around her slender shoulders.

A sinking feeling settled in the pit of the first officer's stomach. He cleared his throat and shifted his weight around uncomfortably. He was in DEEP shit. The expression in Keith's normally impassive face — barely banked frustration — was dangerous. Lance knew that it did not bode well for his continued well-being.

"Lance? You wanted to ask me about something." Keith asked silkily as he rose to his feet to watch the graceful sway of his wife's skirts as she hurried down the hallway. Shutting the door, he crossed to his desk, punching a few buttons on the wall-mounted control panel as he did so. The lights in the room grew brighter and the lamp shut off. "What's that, Lance? The grapevine is wrong about what?"

Lance flushed slightly with embarrassment. He had forgotten how sharp his captain's hearing was. He rubbed the back of his neck, a mannerism he had picked up from Keith. "Umm. You and the Princess. Your things were placed in separate rooms so they say that you aren't sleeping together."

"Hmm." Keith carefully wiped all expression off his face, amazed at the accuracy of the Castle grapevine. "You wanted to talk to me about something."

Lance nodded, grateful for the reprieve. "I have some concerns about the staffing requirements of Castle Control."

"I've been thinking about that too," Keith agreed quietly. "Are Hunk and Pidge still up? We need to work out a closely supervised training program for possible Control Coordinators."

"They are. Let me just go call them," Lance offered, jumping at the chance to escape from the uncomfortable situation he had created.

"Wait."

Lance stopped in his tracks and turned to look at his friend, wondering how Keith could inject so much authority into a single word. "What?"

"Before you call the others, I just want to go through something with you." Keith's voice dropped to a menacing rasp as he glared at his unfortunate first officer.

"See that?" Keith asked rhetorically, pointing to the door. "THAT is a door. You open doors to enter rooms, but before you do that, you KNOCK so that you know WHEN you can open a door."

"Knock." Lance repeated weakly.

"That's right. You remember that maneuver, don't you?" Keith raised a steely fist and knocked on his desk, demonstrating the proper technique.

Lance swallowed hard. His fist jerked reflexively as he unconsciously echoed the unfamiliar maneuver. He looked up at his long-time friend. "Look, I'm really sorry for barging in on you guys. I'll make sure that you know I'm coming next time."

Keith nodded, his temper exorcised and appeased by the sincere contrition shining in Lance's eyes. "No problem," he said as he sank down on his chair with a heavy sigh. "But just don't do it again, okay?"

He swiveled his chair and stared out of the window. As far as he was concerned, the discussion was over, but apparently, his first officer had other ideas.

The door swished closed, but Keith could feel the weight of his friend's scrutiny boring into his back. "Still here, Lance? I thought you were going to go fetch Hunk and Pidge."

"In a while," the first officer said, studying Keith's carefully controlled nonchalance with knowing eyes. He knew his friend well enough to see through that act — years of rooming together in the academy had taught him that much. "I want to talk to you first."

"So talk," Keith said, picking up a thick intelligence report marked Astra-17, Galaxy Garrison's highest level of confidentiality. "By the way, I have a few questions about your report."

Lance chuckled wryly. Amusement at his friend's weak attempt at distraction briefly replaced the concern that glittered in his brown eyes. "How are you holding up?"

Keith raised a sardonic eyebrow. "How am I holding up? What on Arus are you talking about?"

Lance folded his lanky frame into one of the armchairs facing Keith's desk, slouching into a comfortable position. "You. Your new marital state can't be easy on you."

"None of your business, Lance." Keith said dismissively, opening the thick intelligence report and pretending to read it.

Lance snorted under his breath with mild irritation. Keith was being difficult, but that was something he expected so he forged on, undeterred by his friend's reaction. "After all, you're in love with her."

He held his breath and waited patiently for his captain's reaction. It was everything he hoped for — the thick report slammed closed with a heavy thud.

"WHAT?!" Keith stared at his friend incredulously.

"You were named Sir Galahad for a reason, you know," Lance continued, a faint smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "You hide it well, but you're a romantic at heart."

He watched the expression on Keith's face closely. It was as guarded and controlled as ever, but the flicker in Keith's dark eyes told him that his friend was listening. "I remember when you broke up with Velvet because she wanted to get married. We went out that night and we got WASTED." He grinned at the memory, "Or rather, you and Jeff got wasted. *I* was the designated driver, so I didn't drink."

"Probably one of the few times that you didn't," Keith grunted.

"You told us then that marriage to Velvet would be a slow slide into oblivion. She wanted you to be who people expected you to be instead of wanting you for you. I think you said that she was already planning how to spend your money."

Lance paused to take a deep breath, "Our assignment to Arus was the best thing that ever happened to you. Jeff and I were worried about you for a while, you know. We saw how you changed after we started active duty."

Keith's eyes darkened in mute acknowledgement of Lance's words.

"Everyday, you lost a little more of yourself, but then you met Allura and everything changed. She's the only person I know who has enough nerve to argue with you," Lance continued.

"On the other hand, Coran would say that I'm the only one who has enough patience to argue with her," Keith muttered.

"And there you have it!" Lance exclaimed, not quite able to hide the mischievous affection shining in his eyes. "You're perfect for each other. Two crusaders trying to better a flawed world."

"But I just can't go up to her and tell her that I love her!" Keith protested, running a frustrated hand through his already unruly mane of hair.

"Why not?" Lance demanded. He couldn't hide the triumph shining in his brown eyes. "What's stopping you?"

"Things are complicated enough as they are already, " Keith admitted candidly in a rare bout of vulnerability. "And admitting my feelings for her would complicate things even more."

"I'm have the utmost faith in you, Keith," Lance teased, unable to hold back the wide grin that spread across his face, "You'll figure it out. After all, that's why they made you the captain!"


	28. Chapter 27

Allura made her way through the corridors of the Castle. Even at this late hour, they were filled with people — guards patrolling the premises, housekeeping staff on their early morning rounds.

She fled the castle and the intrusive presence of others casting speculative glances at her rumpled dress and sought refuge in the privacy of castle gardens.

Her carriage was exquisitely straight and her expression was serene, but an indefinable emotion glimmered in her eyes, invisible to all those she encountered, even as she stopped to return their greetings.

She returned the salutes of the sentries posted outside the main entrance to the Castle with a distracted smile, knowing that they would report her exit to the officer-of-the-watch at Castle Control.

Allura spared a moment from her flight to study the lake surrounding the castle. The oddly mournful sound of waves crashing against the shore echoed the restlessness that churned in her blood.

A valdxa hooted in the distance, a long call that drifted through the air, fading to humming silence. The wind blew, humming though the grass and Allura shivered in reaction. It was almost as if Arus itself knew that something was wrong, she fancifully imagined.

She thought briefly about going out to her mother's rose garden or visiting her father's tomb — but decided otherwise. She needed to talk to the living — not with the dead — and steep herself in their wisdom.

Without knowing exactly how she got there, she found herself outside the Medical Facility of the Castle. She hesitated outside the closed doors, unsure of the propriety of her chosen course of action.

It WAS late and she didn't want to disturb Coran if he was resting.

The heavy metal doors opened with a soft swoosh and the Princess stood facing a woman that she recognized from her many visits to the Medical Facility as Doctor Gorma's night-duty nurse.

"Y-y-your Highness," the nurse-on-duty stammered, visibly mortified by being caught by the Princess Royal reading a gossip magazine speculating on the state of the Princess' marriage. Throwing the magazine aside, she immediately sank into a deep curtsey.

With a graceful movement of her slender hand, Allura asked the woman to rise, but the nurse did not see the motion. Her eyes were firmly focused on the polished stone flooring of the hallway.

"Please rise, Nurse Tiyara. Is the doctor in?"

The nurse shook her head as she slowly rose from her deep curtsey, but her eyes were still downcast. "No, Your Highness. I am afraid not. Would you like me to call him?"

"No, that's all right. I just wanted to ask him if I could visit the Prime Minister."

The woman bobbed her head and dipped into a small curtsey again and shuffled towards the darkened interiors of the Medical Facility. "Of course, Your Highness. Please, follow me."

Allura pushed open the doors to Coran's room quietly, cautiously peering in to check if her advisor was awake, unwilling to wake him if he was not.

"Good evening, Princess," Coran greeted her, peering up from the heavy book on Terran history that he was reading. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Allura stepped further into the room and pressed an affectionate kiss on the minister's lined cheek. "Nothing really, Coran," she said. "I just wanted to visit with you for a while."

With a quick wave of her hand, she called on her powers to move the heavy armchair that stood in the corner of the room closer to Coran's bed.

Coran studied the Princess' face carefully with the empathetic skill of a professional diplomat. Although Allura hid it well, her eyes held traces of fear and apprehension.

He could still remember when he had seen that expression on her face last — when he had had to explain to an eight-year-old Allura that her mother was never coming back.

Allura glanced up and caught his silent regard. But instead of meeting his eyes with her own, as she normally did, Allura hid her emotions behind the veil of her long lashes.

It was a telling gesture.

Coran smiled gently, trying to set her at ease, "Welcome back, Princess. I must apologize for having interrupted your vacation... and for not being able to greet you when you passed by earlier."

Allura returned his smile with one that was suspiciously bright. "It's perfectly alright, Coran. I'm glad that you were sleeping and I'm sure that Doctor Gorma would agree with me."

"Yes, I'm sure that he would," the Prime Minister agreed, chuckling softly, as he was expected to. "If Rool had his way, I would be sleeping almost 18 hours, instead of my normal five."

He made a production of closing his book and removing his spectacles. "But to be perfectly honest, Your Highness, I am glad to have some company. Having being cooped up like is enough to drive me insane!"

His attempt to set the princess at ease worked marvelously Coran noted, as he noticed Allura's shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly. "Now, tell me, how was your trip to Terra?"

He listened with interest as Allura began speak. Her words painted pictures so vivid that Coran could almost see what she saw. He hid a secret smile as he listened to her. It seemed as though every other sentence began with the word Keith — Keith did this and Keith did that.

"Hmmm... It seems that you and the young captain are getting along quite well. It is obvious that it is not love that puts shadows in your eyes."

His cultured rumble grated against Allura's lacerated nerves. Averting her eyes, she bit her lip nervously and began to smooth imaginary creases in her skirts.

"Tell me, Daughter of Cador," he asked, with the air of quiet authority that was his hallmark. "You have seen something in your dreams, have you not?"

Allura straightened in her chair and stared at her trusted advisor with wide eyes. He never called her a Daughter of Cador. "I never told you about my dreams... How did you know about them?"

"Little Princess, I have known you since before you were born. Even as a child, you would never let us know of your dreams for fear that it would worry us."

A pained, haunted look crossed Allura's face.

"Why else would you speak the Words of Investiture?" Coran pointed out quietly. "We did not make any plans to do so and you would not have done something like this without consultation unless you thought that you had to."

"I'm glad you understand." Allura whispered, rising from her seat to pace around the small room. "I'm sorry for not telling you, but I didn't want to worry you."

She opened the drapes to allow the night enter the room. "Something's going to happen, Coran. I can feel the dark power humming in the air, growing in strength, even as we speak."

Coran's normally ruddy face paled and his mind raced wildly. He cleared his throat and called on all the skills he had learned in his career as a diplomat to force fear from his voice. "Do you mean Haggar and Zarkon, Your Highness?"

Allura nodded.

For the first time in his life, Coran was at a loss for words. He closed his eyes and offered up a quick prayer to the gods for the safekeeping of the child — he still found it difficult to think of Allura as a woman — who was his daughter in everything but blood.

With one brisk movement of her hand, Allura closed the drapes, once again shutting out the darkness outside the brightly lit sanctuary of the Castle of Lions.

"Coran, please get well," Allura said quietly. "Keith will need you more than ever if..." Her voice trailed off and broke. "If anything happens to me."

The Prime Minister marveled at the compassion and inner strength of his princess and he was filled with bitter regret for what he knew the future had in store for her. There was so much he wanted to tell her, but he was unable to launch words past the lump that had lodged in his throat. He settled for nodding silently instead.

Allura's answering smile, as she perched by his bedside, was watery, but her expressive eyes spoke volumes, telling him without words, that she knew what he was about to say.

"I love you, Coran. Thank you for everything." Allura pressed a kiss to his cheek. Her smile, when she lifted her head, was weak, but her eyes were filled with love. "Take care of everyone for me."

Coran closed his eyes and held her tightly to him for a brief moment, wishing with all his heart that he could shelter his Little Princess from this storm as he had protected her from so many others.

It was at that instant that the alarm klaxons began to sound.

Keith's reaction to the strident sound of alarms was almost instantaneous. Reflexes honed by years of intense training at the academy and countless battles came into play.

He dashed out of his study and ran the distance to Castle Control at a controlled pace, almost colliding with Sven as he turned a sharp corner near the diplomat's quarters. "You haven't left yet?" He asked with some surprise, not waiting to hear his friend's answer.

He burst into the Castle Control and found Pidge seated at the master control station, furiously typing in a series of commands. The monitors scattered across the situation room flashed information.

"What's happening?" Keith demanded, coming to a stop next to Lance.

"We can't be certain, but it looks like several ro-beasts have landed on Arus. We've received four different distress calls," Hunk reported gruffly.

Keith swallowed, feeling a chill crawl up his spine.

"Make that five distress calls," Pidge reported, in clipped tones. "We just received another one. We have visual contact. I'm putting it up on the big screen now."

A face appeared on screen, broken by multi-colored lines of interference. Keith recognized him as Madero, the leader of a major settlement in Liroeon, the continent east of Altaire. He felt a surge of admiration for the old man. He stood tall and proud, defiantly refusing to give in to the weakness caused by his many injuries.

"Castle Control? Do you read me? I'm reading you but the transmission is very weak."

Keith spared the time to smile reassuringly at Allura as she entered into the room while the computers worked to amplify the signal. "We read you, kalim," he said as the connection stabilized, using the ancient Arussian word for honored elder. "What is your situation?"

The old man bowed as soon as he recognized Keith and Allura. "Your Highnesses. The armies of Zarkon attacked in the dark of the night with a monstrous robot."

The camera panned across what had once been a bustling village square.

Keith's stomach tightened in reaction at as the sight of the bodies littering the area.

Allura spoke up in a voice tight with despair, "Kalim, we will send our troops to you as soon as possible to help you in the relief operations. My prayers go out to you and your people."

Another flicker of static crossed the screen before it went blank. Pidge spoke up quietly from his position, "It's the same everywhere, Princess. Look at this."

The main monitor began to show a collage of images — eight settlements — not voluntarily abandoned but simply cut down in their prime.

Allura's eyes darkened with unshed tears and her voice broke as she tried to fight the tears that threatened to consume her. "We have to do something."

Keith nodded grimly. "We will, but YOU are going to sit this one out, Princess." His eyes softened as he took Allura's hand. "Please, for my peace of mind, let Sven will fly the Blue today. Please, Allura."

It was the final please that did it. The protest that automatically formed on Allura's lips remained unspoken. Although she would have preferred to go out and fight her own battles, it wasn't in her nature to let those she loved suffer form unnecessary worry.

"Alright," Allura agreed quietly.

Her gaze flickered from Keith's face to their joined hands, at the way that his strong fingers entwined with hers. A pang of sadness washed over her as she remembered their moments together and she wished desperately for a future that would never happen.

Courage and deathless love, she reminded herself once again. If their time together was ending, she didn't want Keith's memory of their last moments together to be sad ones.

"Just promise me you'll all be careful," Allura said, forcing a smile onto her lips as she glanced from one face to another — Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Sven.

"Of course," Pidge crowed as he stood up from the master control station. "Aren't we always?" he teased as he hopped down from the rising platform and sprang for the handlebars that would lead him into his lion.

"That goes double for you too." Allura said as she turned to her husband. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but she couldn't. It wouldn't be fair to him. Instead, she entrusted to him what was most precious to her. "Promise me you'll take care of my people for me."

Keith nodded, sensing the underlying sadness in his wife's words. Taking Allura's hand in both of his, he raised it to his lips and pressed a quick kiss to the back of it in lieu of the goodbye that was inexplicably caught in his throat.


	29. Chapter 28

At night, the Ansjaun desert glowed with an inner light of its own. Its blue-tinged ivory sand dunes swirled and danced under the gentle touch of the sirocco that blew in from the south.

Alternating between scanning the distant dunes that framed the endless horizon on his external monitors and checking the lion's onboard computers, Hunk methodically searched the area for the ro-beast.

A whirlwind of sand approached the Yellow Lion.

Hunk regarded it suspiciously and trained a full array of sensors on it. He had seen dust devils before, but there was something different about this one — it moved as though it was on a chartered course.

He glanced down at his console, hoping that the instruments would confirm his initial assessment and grunted with disgust. As far as his instruments were concerned, he was facing ordinary sand.

His instruments were wrong.

The sand transformed, colors and textures seeming to shift and then hold, gathering and growing into a mound, almost like a man materializing.

Hunk stared at the huge arms and the gargantuan body of the ro-beast in awed fascination. Running a few quick computations in his head, he estimated that it was over 170 meters tall. That's almost double Voltron's height, Hunk realized with dawning fear.

The sudden roaring of the wind snapped Hunk from his reverie as a swirling, whirling dervish of desert dust engulfed the lion, lifting and sucking it into a cyclone-like tunnel, which rose hundreds of feet high into

the sky.

 **"Niflheim," Sven muttered as he piloted the Blue Lion through air thick with white feathers of snow, fighting with all his strength to keep the lion on a steady course.**

He was no stranger to snow storms, such as this one, having spent many holidays in his mother's homeland, the Nordic region of Terra, but it had been years since he had last flown through a blinding flurry such as this.

The course he set through the valleys between Kistrani mountains that spanned the Alsaz continent was dangerous in the best of times, but it was also the shortest route to the towns and villages of the Opqam.

Sven studied the mountains, pregnant with snow, with a worried eye, mindful of the danger they posed. He carefully controlled the Blue's airspeed and kept sound of the lion's engines to a muffled roar.

And then he came upon it.

"A frost giant," Sven whispered, almost reverently, remembering the pictures he had seen as a child in one of the ancient books stored in his mother's ancestral home.

Or was it? He focused his external monitor on the beast and zoomed in on the faint markings on its forearm — Zarkon's mark of slavery. He unconsciously rubbed his own forearm, which had once been marked by the same symbol.

He glanced around warily, weighing his options. Had the beast seen him yet? Probably not. After all, visibility was almost nil thanks to the snow storm raging around them.

Keeping the lion pressed close against the side of the mountain, Sven began to retrace his steps, keeping an wary eye on the ro-beast all the while.

The Blue Lion had barely even begun its retreat, when the ro-beast lifted his head and scanned his surroundings, sensing something different in the air.

Sven held his breath as he watched the ro-beast's gargantuan head move slowly from left to right. He tightened his grip on his controls, preparing himself to for either fight or flight.

He sprang into action as soon as he saw recognition in the ro-beast's eyes. Pulling on his yoke, he sent the lion up a steep climb, not bothering to muffle the roar of his engines.

His ploy worked.

The thunder of the lion's engines echoed through the valley and thundered back from another direction. It seemed to grow louder and louder until there was a crack, a rending and tons of snow began to fall.

Baring its teeth, the ro-beast lifted its massive arms to reveal a pair of silver shards on each outstretched palm. It roared in helpless rage and hurled its icy projectiles at the fleeing lion.

Avoided the lethal darts with unconscious ease, Sven watched them whiz past the lion and explode on the snowy side of a mountain. His eyes widened with alarm as realization set in.

He hadn't been the target of those missiles.

The mountain above him seemed to crumble, and with an ear splitting sound, a relentless weight came crashing on the Blue Lion, so fast that Sven had no time to register pain as he spun downward in a spiral toward darkness and nothingness.

 **The Wahanab forest on Arus' southern continent was not unlike the rain forests back on Terra, Pidge noted idly. There were a billion and one places to hide in the forest's millions of acres of trees and grassland.**

The ro-beast was down there somewhere, Pidge told himself as the Green Lion executed a low fly-by over the lush canopy that formed the western boundary of the Wahanab forest. Laying out a flight pattern, he engaged the auto-pilot so that he could concentrate on his instruments and speed up the search.

But even the daunting task of surveying millions of acres did not occupy Pidge's nimble brain for long. Within minutes, he formulated a target profile and uploaded it into the lion's onboard computers.

His thoughts turned to the grisly relief operations that were ongoing in the towns and hamlets attacked by the ro-beasts and a shudder ran up his spine. He had joined enough of them to know what was going on. At this very moment, relief workers were sorting through the rubble of fallen buildings trying to find the living and more often than not, the dead.

Establishing a secure communications link, Pidge logged onto Castle Control and checked the death toll. 2,912 and rising. He removed his round-rimmed glasses and rubbed eyes that burned with unshed tears.

A feeling of helplessness washed over him. It was just like Balto all over again. The Voltron Force hadn't been able to get there in time either...

A tentacle suddenly whipped out of the canopy and wrapped itself around the left hind leg of the Green Lion. Pidge's eyes widened with alarm, but he reacted as his training dictated.

Simultaneously pushing a button on his console and pulling his yoke towards him, Pidge activated the Green Lion's tail laser and sent the lion rocketing skywards on a steep climb.

It didn't work. In spite of Pidge's skillful maneuvering, leafy creepers grabbed the lion's tail forcing the laser to go wild. Trees burst into flames and birds took to flight.

Pidge learned a terrible lesson that moment. Despite all that they taught you at the Academy, there were times when there was nothing you could do.

Creeping steadily up the lion's hind quarters, the leafy tendrils halted the lion's flight and yanked the lion below the lush forest green canopy.

 **"Hey, watch it! You're not the only one who can breath fire, you know," Lance snapped as he threw the Red Lion into a barrel roll, that faltered just a bit as the g-forces pushed him back into his seat.**

"Take that!" he cried out, releasing a set of stingray missiles onto the serpentine body of the ro-beast he faced. The explosions slid off the beast's armored skin without any obvious damage.

But despite his defiant words, Lance knew that he was dangerously close to physical exhaustion. His shortness of breath and his slower reflexes were proof of that. Dogfighting was extremely tiring and he had been fighting the ro-beast for close to an hour already.

It seemed that even the Red Lion was beginning to feel the strain.

Lance felt his lion struggle valiantly to keep up with his demands even as its energy levels of the weapons systems dropped sharply due to the ferocious running firefight.

The elders of the little village he had grown up in believed that spirits surrounded the physical world, breathing life into everything they touched.

It was a belief that he had scoffed at until he forged a strange kinship with the Red Lion, a mechanical beast created by a magic that none of them could really understand.

"Come on, baby, don't let me down," Lance prayed as the engines of his lion stalled for a split second. "There are a lot of people counting on us. We can't let them down."

He sensed the spirit of his Lion respond to his heartfelt plea.

The Lion roared defiantly and charged the ro-beast, attacking the serpent head-on with all the strength, power and precision that were built into it, despite the overwhelming odds.

 **A frown crossed Keith's brow as he flew the Black Lion through a maze of heavy missile fire. There was something strange about Zarkon's attack. It didn't follow the old tyrant's normal modus operandi. Zarkon had never launched five ro-beasts simultaneously. Ro-beasts were just too expensive.**

The Intelligence Section of Galaxy Garrison theorized that throughout the expansion of the Doom Empire, Zarkon kept a tight fist on the expenses involved, conscious of the need to maximize and conserve the limited resources of Planet Doom.

It was a theory that Keith was inclined to believe.

Where the Drule ro-beasts were created by the latest scientific technology, the process of creating Doom ro-beasts was a strange fusion of Haggar's magic and Drule technology.

Zarkon and his inner circle — Haggar and Lotor — would routinely pick out slaves and other political prisoners and sentence them to be transformed into a ro-beast.

Gritting his teeth, Keith launched a few missiles of his own, hoping to damage the ro-beast. The explosion of his proton missiles destroyed some of the hostile ones and caused the guidance system of others to go haywire, turning every which way to explode harmlessly in mid-air.

Forming his Ion Knife, he launched his lion at the ro-beast. The beast fired another volley of missiles at him, but they exploded harmlessly against his missile deflection wings.

Shredding the ro-beast's chest with the Black's powerful claws, he thrust at its thick neck with the Ion Knife, hoping to find a chink in its armor. Cursing under his breath, he found out that the armor was heavier than normal.

Roaring with rage, the ro-beast reached for him with its four-arms, almost grabbing the lion by its tail. Luckily, Keith anticipated its attack and used its thick chest to spring up into the air.

If only they could form Voltron, he thought, studying the ro-beast's enraged movements, all it would take to end this battle would be a few slices with the Blazing Sword.

A niggle of doubt wafted over him as he began to question the wisdom of his actions. He could have, SHOULD have ordered the team to stay together, even if it meant sacrificing thousands of lives.

Yeah right, Blackwell, an inner voice scoffed. Listen to yourself. Do you think that you could actually give that order? You know that you'd never be able to live with yourself if you did. And you know that your team would never stand for it either, even if it was the smart thing to do.


	30. Chapter 29

A hushed silence filled Castle Control. The huge monitors showed scenes of destruction and death that struck a chord of remembrance. The Lions helpless. Arus in flames.

The nightmarish images were culled from the collective memory of everyone in the room. Commoners, aristocrats and a princess, each could remember only too well the terror of Zarkon's invasion years ago.

Despite the danger to themselves, the members of the Voltron Force fought bravely, setting themselves up as targets to draw the battle away from populated areas.

Because of the affinity for magic that the princess had inherited from her ancestors, she could sense the influence of the dark forces that made monsters out of what were once men — a blight on their souls, turning what was normally shimmering and radiant into something murky and dismal.

But despite the witch's best efforts, she had never succeeded in completely corrupting her ro-beasts. Each one of them had a stubborn spark of humanity that refused to be extinguished.

This spark of humanity reasserted itself in critical moments during battles. When what-was-once-human grasped the magnitude of the atrocities Haggar and Zarkon forced it to commit; the ro-beast simply refused to serve them, choosing to sentence itself to death at the hands of Voltron's Blazing Sword, rather than live with the knowledge of what it had done in Zarkon's name.

Allura's face was carefully expressionless as she watched the five battles rage on the screens of the monitors, but her tear-darkened eyes were filled with mounting horror. There was something different about the ro-beasts that her husband and friends fought. Haggar's corruption of their souls was complete. Nothing would stop the ro-beasts from killing her friends if Haggar willed it.

Her lips moved silently, mouthing half-forgotten childhood prayers, begging the gods who watched over her people to protect the men who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in their defense.

Sven. Hunk. Pidge. Lance. Keith.

One by one, the screens flickered to static as the lions were shot down, yanked from the safety of the open sky by the ro-beasts that they fought despite the valiant efforts of their pilots.

Her face pale and stricken, Allura tore her anguished gaze away from the monitors, unable to bear the almost physical pain of watching the chaotic patterns of defeat for another second.

In her despair, she didn't notice the murky shadows in the corner of the room swirl, coalesce and materialize into the sinister form of a cloaked figure.

An obscene burst of delighted laughter replaced the silence that hung over the control room like a shroud.

Allura sprang to her feet and whirled around to face the intruder. The tingle of power rose unbidden within her, sadness and fury feeding it and making it stronger than any she had ever felt before.

Two soldiers started forward, placing themselves between the Princess and the all-too-familiar figure of Zarkon's witch. Another two, on either side of Haggar, drew their weapons, fixing Haggar in their sights.

"You are not welcome here, Haggar," Allura announced, her voice ringing with regal authority, even as her pulse shuddered with fear. "I order you to leave."

"You are in no position to order me to do anything, Princess," Haggar cackled, stroking her ever-present blue cat. "Do you think to scare me with your petty threats?" Without warning, the witch lifted a gnarled hand. A gust of wind lifted the soldiers off their feet and throwing them towards the armored walls of Castle Control with incredible speed.

But before Haggar could hurl the men against the wall, a second spell — an invisible cushion — slid between them, softening the blow of the impact. The unconscious bodies of the soldiers slipped to the floor.

"Perhaps I can defend myself, Haggar," Allura taunted the witch, the tips of her graceful fingers glowing blue with power. "After all, have you ever known a Daughter of Cador to be helpless?"

The witch's golden eyes flashed with what might have been a glimmer of respect. "Perhaps I discounted your magic, Princess," she said grudgingly, "but you will yield to me."

"I think not," Allura burst out defiantly.

"Even when the price of your refusal to surrender is the lives of your husband and friends?" The witch asked, waving her staff in the air. "Why, with one thought, I can order my ro-beasts to kill them."

As if on cue, a single monitor flickered to life. Allura's hand reached out instinctively as she recognized Keith's form, slumped over his controls in the Black Lion.

The darkened cockpit was lit by the jolts of energy that arced through everything — including Keith's barely conscious form. Clenching his jaw, he fought to keep from crying out with pain, even as his breath came in short, ragged grasps.

"Stop it," Allura whispered, reaching out a slender hand towards the monitor once again as her tear-filled eyes sought out the witch. "You're killing him."

Delighted with Allura's reaction, Haggar laughed again, with genuine amusement this time. "But of course, Princess. Didn't I tell you I was going to do that?"

Allura flinched as a groan of pain filled the comm channel. "Give me your word, witch," she said, unable to tear her eyes away from the monitors. "Your ro-beasts will release him — and the rest of the Voltron Force — if I yield to you."

"I give you my word."

"Your word means nothing." Allura laughed scornfully. "I want you to swear it, invoking the names of whatever gods you worship."

The gleam of triumph glowed in Haggar's eyes even as she began to speak. "I give you my promise on this, Daughter of Cador. May Xosw'aa, Qui-aza and Yoaz strike me down if I break my vow to you."

Waving her staff in the air once again, Haggar conjured up a dimensional portal and stepped into it. Her voice echoed in the silence of the room. "I have given you my word, Princess. Now, I bid you to enter my world."

Allura's shoulders slumped as the fiery defiance that had carried her through the previous scene began to fade. She turned to her prime minister and governess, standing frozen by the master control station.

Raising a hand, she silenced them when they would have spoken. "I know what you're going to say, but you cannot stop me. I know that what I am doing is foolhardy and dangerous, but I have to do this."

"Haggar is the key to all this. I can feel it," Allura's eyes shifted from her governess to her prime minister, silently pleading with them to understand. "If I go with her, perhaps I can convince her to join us and turn her back on Zarkon."

Lifting her head proudly, the princess shot a final sorrowful smile of farewell to her prime minister and her governess and she stepped into the murky, opalescent depths of Haggar's portal to disappear without a trace.


	31. Chapter 30

Keith removed the Black Lion's key from its special socket and slumped against his control panel in bone-deep exhaustion. The lion's cockpit was dark and shadowy and offered him the privacy he needed to gather his composure.

Keith shuddered as the memories of the battle he had just fought came to fore. He knew that he was a pretty good pilot, but he had needed all his skill — and a great deal of luck — to keep the Black in one piece.

Not that he was entirely successful, he mused with a weary sigh. The Black had suffered more damage than any other lion — which wasn't good, considering the extent of damage on the Red and on the Blue.

It had been damned close, he thought, cursing quietly under his breath. Too close. If the ro-beasts hadn't suddenly weakened when they did, it would have been the end of the Voltron Force.

He felt like he was falling apart inside.

As a career officer, he was on intimate terms with the what-ifs and should-haves that were the lonely price of command. They haunted his days and his nights, terrifying him in a way that no one could ever understand.

Except for one person.

Allura.

His delicate princess knew the loneliness, fear and regret that were the price of leadership. Her crown was heavy but she bore its weight with strength, intelligence and compassion.

He needed her smile to remind him of what he was fighting for. Love and laughter, sunshine and rainbows. Her slender shoulders hid a gentle strength that put his own to shame.

Keith gripped arms of his chair with sudden resolve. Life was too short to waste. He had to tell Allura how he felt. Now. And after he had done so, he would take her in his arms, hold her close and never let go.

Keith swung out of the transit system with effortless grace, his lithe movements belying the bone-deep exhaustion that he felt. "Good evening, Nanny," he greeted the governess with a charming grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. He turned to the Royal Advisor with a slight bow. "Coran. I'm glad to see you up and about."

"Thank you, Your Highness," the Prime Minister said, his voice a choked whisper. "I'm glad to be out of that bed."

"Where's Allura?" Keith asked. His dark eyes glanced around the room, with undisguised eagerness. "I have to report that we survived our scuffle with Zarkon's uglies. All the lions suffered a few scratches, but we're all okay, safe and sound."

A tendril of alarm slithered up Keith's spine as he saw Coran look away in an attempt to avoid his eyes. "Coran," he said quietly in a tone that demanded immediate obedience. "Where's Allura?"

"Gone. With Haggar."

It was Nanny who answered his question. Keith turned the full force of his gaze on the governess. "What the hell are you talking about, Nanny?! Why would Allura go with Haggar?"

"Because Haggar demanded it," Nanny said, fingering her prayer beads as she did so. "It was the price of your survival — that the Phoenix join her."

"The phoenix?" Keith echoed blankly, striving to understand Nanny's words though the blanket of the thick accent that emerged only when the governess was deeply disturbed.

"Allura's birthmark, Keith." Coran explained quietly. "She was the one marked by the phoenix, the one who would cause the downfall of Haggar and end the Evil One's reign of terror."

"She's not going to be able to do it alone," Keith said in a voice full of determination. Turning on his heel, he set off at a run for the lion portals, only to be halted by firm hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off with an impatient twist of his shoulder, impotent anger and fear turning his voice harsh. "Don't try to stop me, Coran," he warned.

"But I must, Your Highness," Coran apologized. "When you knelt at Allura's feet and pledged your sword, your hand and your life, you gave yourself to people of Arus. They need someone to look up to for leadership and guidance. And as Prime Minister, it is my duty to protect you to ensure that you live to fulfill that vow."

"The way that you protected Allura, Coran?" Keith demanded savagely, his dark eyes glaring daggers at the prime minister. "Why didn't you stop her from going off with Haggar?"

Coran had the grace to look ashamed, but he still stepped forward in his own defense. "Haggar cast a spell over us. We could not move, or even speak, even though we wanted to."

"I would that my princess be spared from this," Nanny declared in a voice that trembled and broke as she spoke, "but it was not meant to be. She will face her destiny in a manner befitting a Daughter of Cador."

"Does she even know about her destiny?" Keith shot back, his voice rising with every word. "Did you at least do her the courtesy of TELLING her about it?"

"I did not have to. She knew. She told me just as much," Coran said bleakly. "I don't know how, but she knew, even though we have never spoke of the prophesy of the phoenix to her."

"I am not surprised," Nanny declared. "My family has served the Daughters of Cador for countless generations, but there is still much about their powers that mystify us. Their dreams, for instance. They speak of the future, you know."

"And in her dreams, Allura saw darkness... and evil," Keith said with dawning understanding and horror. "There must be something we can do. She shouldn't have to face Haggar alone—"

"But she is not alone," Coran said, the sadness in his eyes tempered by the inner wisdom of his beliefs. "You must believe that God is with her, Keith, as he is with us all."

Coran's faith gave Keith pause, but he could not take comfort in religion as the prime minister did. "Still, there must be something we can do," Keith repeated, starting towards the transit system to the lions.

"Be reasonable, Keith," Coran said, blocking Keith's path in a surprisingly quick move. "More than anyone, you know the extent of damage on the Black Lion. In fact, I am surprised that you were able to fly it back to the castle."

"Then I'll take one of the other lions," Keith said firmly, setting his chin to a stubborn angle.

"And which lion will you take, Highness?" Coran asked mildly, bringing up the five schematics onto the wall of monitors. "None of the lions escaped unscathed."

Pointing at each lion in turn, Coran began to enumerate Keith's options. "The Red Lion's acceleration compensator needs replacement; Pidge has observed the Green Lion's gyro system oscillating wildly; Sven reported that the Blue Lion's electromagnetic field sensor unit was damaged in the avalanche; and the control linkage instrumentation in the Yellow Lion needs recalibration."

"Then I'll take the Altair," Keith called over his shoulder as he headed out of the room. He stopped in his tracks as the heavy blast door that separated the Control Room from the rest of the castle slammed shut.

He turned his head and glared at the prime minister. "Open the blast doors, Coran. That is a direct order," he snapped, each word imbued with the force of his fury.

To his credit, Coran met Keith's dark eyes without flinching — an action that gained him some respect from the young captain. "I will not, Your Highness. It is my duty to protect you, even from yourself."

Stepping forward, Nanny laid a hand on Keith's tightly clenched forearm. "There is nothing you can do, Keith. Haggar opened a dimensional portal. You will not be able to follow the princess with any of our ships."


	32. Chapter 31

It was a dream, Allura thought groggily. One of those dreams when you knew that you were dreaming. She willed herself to open her eyes and wake up, knowing that she would find herself curled up in bed.

But she wasn't.

She blinked in confusion as bits and pieces began filtering back to her. It wasn't a dream. Fighting back the panic that threatened to overwhelm her, she forced herself to take stock of her surroundings.

The first thing that she noticed was the choking, almost tangible stench that seemed to combine the smells of every foul substance that she had ever encountered — brimstone, rotting flesh, human excrement.

It was difficult to concentrate, but she still had enough presence of mind to wince in disgust at the slime and filth that she felt on the ground beneath her hands. She forced herself to get to her feet —a task more difficult than she expected — because of the viscous sludge that made the ground flow and shift.

The silence was absolute — almost deafening in its completeness. She seemed to be alone in a world of darkness — no celestial bodies whatsoever shined in the ebony sky.

Thrusting the fear from her mind, she mustered a small spell. Fire flickered in her outstretched hand. It was a simple skill, one of the first mastered and one of the last lost with age — and the ease at which she cast it bolstered her flagging spirit.

Malevolent laughter rang out, far beyond the comforting circle of light created by Allura's small fire.

Allura turned her head in its direction, blinking in an attempt to allow her eyes to adapt sufficiently to the lack of light. Still, despite her best efforts, it took her a few seconds to recognize the figure that emerged from the shadows.

She straightened her shoulders. She was the Princess Royal of Arus and a daughter of the House of Cador. She would rather die before displaying any fear before her enemy.

Haggar emerged from the darkness, stroking her blue cat. "Princess Allura. I am glad you decided to join me. It's been years since I tasted the power of a daughter of Cador."

"Where am I, Haggar?" Allura demanded, her measured tones the result of a lifetime of training and countless generations of breeding. "What sort of place is this?"

"You are in my world, Princess, where my magic rules. We are beyond space and time, as you know it." Haggar said. Amused by Allura's demand, the witch's voice was almost affectionate. "I only hope that the mystical power in your blood is as strong as your spirit, Little Phoenix."

"Why do you call me that?" Allura asked, lifting a golden eyebrow archly.

Haggar shook her head with a small smile. Her golden eyes burned with ancient wisdom and an infinite capacity for malice. "You are the chosen one, Daughter of Cador, the Phoenix..."

The witch reached out a gnarled hand and ripped off Allura's sleeve with the speed of a striking snake, revealing the perfectly formed bird with wings of flame.

Jerking away, Allura gestured sharply, shot a bolt of pure light into the air and watched it land and burn harmlessly at the witch's feet.

The witch laughed and extinguished the flame with a wave of her hand. "You WILL give me what I want, Little Phoenix... whether you want to or not," Haggar said, angling her head. Murky blue fire gleamed at her fingertips as she sent the ground heaving under Allura's feet.

The ground, never really stable to begin with, shifted and swayed violently. The viscous sludge that covered it flowed up Allura's feet and sent her sprawling on the ground..

Haggar threw back her head and cackled once again. "Come, Princess," she said almost kindly. She reached down and touched Allura's shoulder where the phoenix mark lay. "Take my hand. Why must you suffer the pain? You know that the result will be the same anyway."

Allura gasped with pain as the gnarled fingers brushed her shoulder. Haggar's touch was unlike any that she had ever felt before — cold tendrils of evil that seemed to touch her very soul.

Her breath was short and shallow as she whispered words in the secret tongue of Cador, magical incantations passed down from a centuries-old unbroken chain of mothers and daughters. But her desperate attempt failed, her waning power slipped like sand through her fingers.

Sensing Allura's weakening like the predator that she was, Haggar laughed triumphantly, and swung her staff in the air like a sword, in an ancient ritual honoring the dark forces that fueled her malignant powers.

Her voice rose as she began to chant, gaining strength as it echoed across the sprawling emptiness of the landscape. "I call on the powers of Darkness! Xosw'aa, Lord of Terror! Qui-aza, King of Darkness! Yoaz, Who Makes the Dead Weep!"

Wild winds sprang out of nowhere as though in response to her call. The air moaned and howled in an obscene melody. Allura's unbound hair whipped around her body with a force that was almost painful.

A single star appeared on the horizon. Brilliant in its individuality, it blazed brightly on the ebony sky. Its strange light cast a reddish sheen on devastated hills and plains.

Blood began to seep through the silk of the Princess' gown and Allura shuddered, her eyes closing from the excruciating pain that seemed to originate from her soul.

Haggar uttered a hoarse cry — partly a laugh, partly a curse and partly a howl of triumph. The chanting grew louder. "Locktwarr waalori luatha daniyom, Tuailiee waalori tirea dariyu..."

Allura struggled desperately to hold on to consciousness. She sensed an approaching mist and summoned a weak wind in a futile attempt to repel it, knowing in the depths of her heart the threat it posed to her soul.

Haggar laughed in triumph as her voice began to change from second to second — from a roar, to a growl, to a shrill whine — never entirely becoming human.

Her body was equally fluid, constantly shifting from form to form — first becoming a grey-haired old crone, then a statuesque brunette, then a stately blonde.

The mist engulfed Allura and she felt what little strength she had left leaving her body at an appalling rate. Her head spun and she gasped for air as the mist stole her breath.

A single tear trickled from Allura's eye, a crystal droplet of sorrow and regret. The hope that she clung to like a protective talisman was snuffed out.

Allura's limbs became heavier and time slowed. Haggar's voice echoed through her head and filled her universe, forcing the Princess to begin a slow retreat into a safe refuge in the depths of her mind.

Closing her eyes, she summoned an image of Keith — not as she had last seen him, but as he had looked during their interlude in his study. She held on to his image in her mind's eye as she lost the battle for consciousness and slipped, bonelessly onto the ground.


	33. Chapter 32

Dawn had yet to tint the sky but the Castle was already stirring to life. Servants moved around the different rooms cleaning and polishing, kitchen maids and cooks began preparations for feeding the hundreds of people who lived and worked in the Castle.

Ignoring the activity, Keith moved through the hallways like one of the many ghosts who were said to haunt the castle, a lonely wraith that slipped from one room to the next on soundless feet.

He kept his head down as he strode through the halls of the Castle in a futile attempt to outrun the demons of doubtand despair that tormented him during quiet moments.

His worry about his wife and the additional responsibility of ruling Arus was beginning to take its toll. His eyes hinted of his exhaustion and of the terrible fear that was his constant companion.

Rounding a corner, he came across a gaggle of housemaids cleaning and polishing the artwork and sculpture that decorated the hallway to a sheen that met Nanny's exacting standards of cleanliness.

His ears picked up the sound of feminine whispers just as the hair on the back of his neck stood up. His mouth tightened with irritation. He was being talked about again.

Bits and pieces of the housemaid's conversation floated across the hallway, their speculation an intrusive weight that lingered like a persistent itch at the edge of Keith's perception. If only he had the energy, Keith thought with a tired sigh. Then he could have given them all a tongue-lashing that would have sent them scampering away to find a safe place to hide.

He turned into the next possible corner, lured by the silence of the darkened hallway beyond it only to realize with a start of recognition that he was outside the apartments he was supposed to have shared with Allura.

Keith stared at the heavy metal doors with haunted eyes. For over a little over two weeks now, he had been making excuses to avoid entering the suite beyond the closed doors. He stretched out a tentative hand to touch the metal doors and the coldness of the fleeting contact crept into his body, bringing with it the sickening sensation of despair and loss.

He jumped back as the doors opened without warning, the automatic sensors within them already programmed to admit him without question or delay. Bittersweet curiosity filled him as he examined the room that lay beyond the door.

It was the first time that he had ever seen the suite that had been allocated to him and Allura. They had made arrangements to tour the suite together, but the demands on Allura's time had forced her to reschedule.

He entered the spacious living room on unsteady feet, irrationally terrified of what the room represented. His gaze traveled past the huge windows that filled up one entire wall of the room, letting in the light of a million of stars and a full moon.

The mysterious silver sheen illuminated a room that bore the imprints of Allura's distinctive touch. It was a cozy refuge, one that was unrelentingly warm and peaceful with its soft pillows, comfortable sofas and woven carpets.

The clicking of his footsteps on the wooden floors punctuated the silence that filled the room. Echoes of hopes and dreams danced in his head and mocked his loneliness.

The silence was oppressively heavy in the stillness of the room. Keith trailed a tentative finger over the ivory keys of the baby grand piano gleaming in the corner of the room in an attempt to dispel it but the mournful notes he played struck a resonant chord in his heart.

Closing the lid with a bang, he set off on a restless quest of exploration that led him through the sitting room, the small dining room and up the curving wooden staircase that led to the bedrooms and private studies.

His steps faltered and stopped as the familiar scent of roses drifted to his nose from one of the bedrooms. "Allura?" He whispered hoarsely, his heart filled with impossible hope. Taking the rest of the steps two by two, he pushed open the door and found the room empty.

Crystal vases filled with roses were scattered around the room, the blooms casting their fragrance into the air, reminding him of the delicious smell of Allura's hair and how perfectly she had fit into his arms.

He closed his eyes and saw his princess, brushing her hair with the silver-backed brush that lay on the dressing table, her face glowing with delicate beauty and her eyes sparkling with happiness.

Her smile and her laughter — those were the things he loved most about Allura. They were as much a part of her as her beauty and her compassion for others. They symbolized her great joy in life, her spirit and vitality.

He didn't know how he could go on without her. She had brought so much into his life — laughter and joy and happiness — even in the middle of a war. Without her, all that remained seemed bleak and forlorn.

His gaze fell on a framed photograph on the dresser, illuminated by a shaft of moonlight. He walked toward it and stared at the image depicted within.

Allura was caught in the act of rising from her impromptu curtsey in the cathedral. She was looking up at him and he was looking down on her with a tender smile on his face. Their hands were reaching out to each other, almost, but not quite, touching.

In contrast to the rest of the Castle, the hallway leading to the quarters of the Voltron Force was dark and quiet. It was — by Nanny's decree — one of the few areas in the castle off-limits to Nanny's housekeeping staff.

Stepping out of his room, Lance pulled on his favorite blue shirt as he crossed the hallway from his rooms to Keith's. He had seen this coming for some time. Despite Keith's carefully designed mask, the captain felt everything deeply and held everything in until his emotions reached a critical mass.

Without bothering to announce himself, Lance pushed open the doors to Keith's old quarters to check if the captain had decided to sleep there instead of in his study. But, as Lance expected, there was nothing in Keith's room except for a few boxes of books.

Worry flashed across Lance's face as he surveyed the room, making a mental list of the places Keith frequented. Thumbing his communicator, he briefed Hunk and strode down the corridor purposefully to begin his search.

Lance checked his pace as he left the privacy of the Voltron Force's wing. He plastered a smile on his face and sauntered down the hallway of the castle as though he didn't have a care in the world.

To the casual observer, he seemed like his normal friendly self, but those who knew him well enough would have noticed the concern that seethed beneath his seemingly placid expression.

A brief glint of wry amusement flashed in his almond-shaped eyes. For once, his reputation as the Voltron Force's resident lothario — deserved or not— stood him in good stead.

With practiced ease, Lance summoned up his most flirtatious grin and engaged each maid he met in conversation. His charming manner soon garnered him the information he needed — none of the maids had seen Keith.

He gathered the reports of the roving patrols in the relaxed easy manner of command that he was known for, subtly interrogating seven pairs of guards about the people roaming the castle halls.

Within a matter of minutes, Lance was satisfied that Keith wasn't in any of his usual haunts — the recreation room, the castle library, his study and the observation deck. Peering out a window, he saw the Black sitting on top of its monument, and after a quick discussion with Hunk in Castle Control, he knew that the Altaire was in its docking bay and that Keith's stallion was still in the stables.

Where else could Keith be? Lance wondered. His brows drew closer together in a frown as he considered other possibilities. Inspiration came to him as he saw a flash of pink running across the hall.

Feeling rather foolish, he raised his voice and called out to the space mouse. "Ummm, you... what's your name? The pink mouse. Jerry? Jacques? Minnie? Roquefort? Whatever... have you seen Keith?"

He was answered by an excited burst of chittering.

"I take it that that means yes," Lance said, scratching his head. "You know I can't understand you like Allura does, but I think you understand me. Can you show me where Keith is?"

The little mouse — probably second or third generation judging by her size — nodded and waved her arms in the air wildly. She scampered off, stopping every so often to allow Lance to follow her.

Keith was sitting on the couch, staring out at the rain. Naked despair shimmered in his eyes, its intensity telling of the turbulence of the emotions that boiled beneath his facade.

He didn't bother turning when the door swished open with a soft hiss. "What do you want, Lance?" he said quietly, lifting the glass he held to his mouth and drinking deeply.

"How'd you know it was me?" Lance asked cautiously, taking a seat and accepting the glass of Alanor Keith offered him. His sharp eyes noticed the effects of the alcohol on his friend. Keith's hands weren't steady and his eyes didn't quite focus.

A corner of Keith's mouth lifted in a humorless smile. "You didn't knock. You're the only person I know who enters a room without knocking."

A glint of worry filled Lance's eyes as he studied his long-time friend. He had known Keith for almost a decade – in good times and in bad – but he had never seen Keith in quite this mood before — bleak and despairing.

With wisdom beyond his years, Lance didn't respond, choosing to offer silent support and companionship. Sipping from his glass, Lance sat back and watched the rain.

Minutes passed in silence before Keith spoke. "I couldn't sleep Lance... I keep on thinking about Allura, wondering if I missed something... if I could have done something... if she's out there, needing me."

"Maybe you get some rest and stop drinking then," Lance pointed out gently, feeling the need to state the obvious. "You're in no condition for a hot scramble if we hear something and have to launch."

"I know." Keith agreed with a bitter sigh. "I know all the reasons why I shouldn't drink. I gave myself a lecture earlier this evening... But I just wanted to forget everything, even just for a little while..."

Lance felt a lump of sympathy rise in his throat. He was worried about Allura too — the Princess was a like a sister to him and to the rest of the Force — but their worry was nothing like Keith's.

"It's been so long, Lance. Too long. She's been gone for over two weeks and I miss her in a different way every day... Has there been any news?"

"None," Lance admitted gruffly, wishing that he didn't have to be the bearer of bad news. "Hunk told me that Pidge's program didn't work the way we hoped it would and Sven says that Romelle hasn't been able to sense Allura's presence either."

"It's getting harder and harder to keep hope alive, Lance." Keith groaned, burying his face in his arms. His breath came in short, painful gasps. "Coran talked to me earlier this evening. He wants to discuss Allura's last wishes."


	34. Chapter 33

Nanny's full skirts swished as she traced the familiar route to the Royal Bedchambers, carefully balancing a breakfast tray for Keith, who she had discovered, would forget about eating unless he was reminded to.

In the days that had passed since Allura's disappearance, she, Coran and the Voltron Force had formed an unlikely alliance, united by their concern for the Prince Regent.

While maintaining a healthy respect for his privacy, sharp eyes kept a close watch on Keith, trying to assess his health and moods, just as they had watched the Princess.

A pang of worry — for her Little Princess and for the Prince Regent — twisted Nanny's heart. It had been sixteen days since Allura's confrontation with Haggar — sixteen days without word from the Princess and Keith's condition was worsening everyday.

Nanny's face tightened, but she refused to allow her emotions to distract her from her appointed duties. As Mistress of the Household, Nanny was a beloved despot, charged with the supervision of the servants that served the Royal Family.

She looked around as the halls of the Castle bustled with activity of servants cleaning and polishing. Pointing out a thin coating of dust on top of a console table, she spoke sharply to the young maid whose responsibility it was to clean it. A smudge on a cheval glass mirror on another floor earned more words of reproof.

Pausing outside the doors to the Royal suite that the Princess was to have shared with Keith, Nanny took a moment once again to examine her surroundings with wistful eyes.

After the death of his beloved Juliana, a grief-stricken Alfor had ordered the Royal Suite — and the entire hallway that lead to it — emptied and closed up, until it was time for Allura to occupy it with her husband.

Allura, dutiful daughter that she was, had only been too glad to comply with her father's request, and had thrown herself into decorating the empty suite with enthusiasm.

Taking time from her busy schedule, Allura had given Nanny detailed instructions on how she wanted the Royal Suite decorated, instructions which the governess had carried out with her usual zeal for perfection.

Of course, there were differences, Nanny mused, eyeing the silvery metal that lined the walls of the hallway and the carpets that covered the floors. The castle Alfor and Juliana had lived was made of ancient stone, while Keith and Allura occupied the "new" Castle of Lions — which had miraculously risen from the scorched ruins of the old.

Personally, she thought new Castle was not as welcoming as the old one. She missed the graceful sweeping archways and the hidden little gardens that reminded her of the ones in the palaces of Cador.

Allura felt the lack of warmth too, Nanny realized with a flash of insight, remembering the many times she had seen the princess fuss with small household details that could have easily been delegated to the many maids that served in the castle.

But Allura's efforts were not in vain, Nanny thought fondly as she glanced around a castle that bore the imprints of Allura's distinctive touch. The princess had managed to transform the coldness of the new castle into a cozy refuge, an oasis of peace and warmth.

Keith would be pleased with it, Nanny mused, feeling a grudging affection towards the young captain, a man who reminded her of Alfor in many ways. Keen intelligence. Dry wit. A kind, compassionate heart. A sense of duty and service. Nanny began to see why her little princess loved him so much. If only he were of the blood royal, Nanny sighed, shaking her head as she squared her shoulders and knocked on the door.

Something woke Keith from his restless sleep and he reluctantly opened his eyes. The brilliant sunshine that filled the room was torturously bright on his aching eyes after the comforting cloak of slumber.

His mind circled a moment, groping for an awareness that returned in a flash. Allura. Had there been any news? He sat up with a jolt and wished he hadn't as the room spun around him.

He let out a long breath that trailed off into a groan. His head felt like it was about to burst. He slumped back against comfortable cushions of the sofa and rubbed his temples. Muttering a particularly virulent oath from between clenched teeth, he tried to find the energy to stand up and remembered painfully one of the first lessons he learned at the Academy: the blissful forgetfulness brought about by getting drunk was just a reprieve. He couldn't use alcohol as a crutch to distance himself from his fear and worry.

His sharp ears picked up the soft swoosh of the automatic door opening and the familiar sound of Nanny's feet shuffling across the floor. He opened his eyes with trepidation.

"Morning, Nanny" Keith greeted the governess in a strained voice, mentally preparing himself for a strident lecture about how his behavior was unbecoming of the Prince Consort of Arus.

"Good morning, Your Highness," she said quietly, setting a tray onto the low table before him. "Lance told me that you were not feeling well. I brought you some Yanta juice to settle your stomach."

Keith smiled wanly and accepted the glass that Nanny gave him. He would have preferred a bracing cup of bitter coffee, but he didn't want to disturb the tenuous bond that formed between him and his wife's former governess over the course of the last two weeks.

Taking a sip, he braced himself for the queasiness that he knew would follow and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the juice really did help settle his stomach.

Finishing the glass, he handed it to Nanny so that she could pour some more juice into it. His gaze wandered over to the breath-taking landscape framed by the huge window that took up one entire wall of the room.

Most Arussian days were bright and sunny, but this one promised to one of the more beautiful ones and Allura's garden rose to the occasion accordingly. In full bloom, it was a spectacular sight.

A melancholy smile crossed Keith's face as his gaze drifted over to the framed picture standing on the table.

Caught in the act of rising from her impromptu curtsey in the cathedral, Allura was a fairy tale princess surrounded by white flowers and candlelight.

A light touch on his arm jolted him out of his reverie. Keith looked up and met the governess' understanding eyes as she handed him his glass of juice.

"Do not underestimate the power of faith, Your Highness," Nanny said quietly, smiling down kindly at him as a maternal hand reached out to brush his bangs out of his eyes. "Our thoughts and prayers will not go unanswered."

"Will they, Nanny?" Keith asked bleakly. "I wish I had the strength of your beliefs. I can't help but feel that I'm letting her down. I can't shake the feeling that she's out there somewhere, needing my help."

"Perhaps Allura IS reaching out to you," the governess nodded as she gazed off into the distance, her eyes misty with ancient wisdom. "There is much we do not understand about the powers of the Daughters of Cador. Remember what Her Majesty Queen Orla told you. Just because something cannot be seen or touched, doesn't mean that it isn't real."

Stifling the urge to yawn, Lance glanced around the breakfast room. A stray beam of sunlight streamed through the windows, falling on the empty chair at the head of the table.

He had never really enjoyed mornings — and this one was one of the worst he had ever experienced. It had been years since his last hangover, and he had forgotten how what a torturous experience getting up the next morning was.

He was grateful about some things though. Breakfast this morning was a quiet, hushed affair, quite unlike the laughing, lively times that the Voltron Force normally had.

Having breakfast together was a long-standing tradition that Keith and Allura had started long ago, Lance remembered, stirring a heaping teaspoon of sugar into his cup of coffee.

He eyed the food in front of him without much interest. The Castle Chefs had prepared a delicious breakfast of native sausages, scrambled eggs, rice and toast, hoping to revive the Force's normally healthy appetites. But much to their dismay, their efforts were wasted. The members of the Voltron Force — except for Hunk — picked half-heartedly at their food, chewing and swallowing mechanically.

Pushing aside his plate, Lance leaned back against his seat and shifted with discomfort. The grease of the sausages he had just eaten sat heavily on his queasy stomach.

"So, Lance," Hunk said as he helped himself to his third hearty serving of sausages and rice. "What happened last night? Were you able to talk to Keith?"

"Yeah." Lance said, nodding. His brows drew together in an involuntary wince as the action set off hammers in his already aching head. "I was able to talk him."

"I'm surprised he was sober." Sven muttered under his breath, even as he lifted his eyes to meet Lance's. "I overheard some maids gossiping this morning. They said that he's made a sizable dent in Nanny's stock of Alanor."

Pidge's fork dropped onto his plate with a noisy clatter. "Keith drinks? It's been over four years since we arrived on Arus and I've never seen him drink!"

"Pidgelet," Lance retorted as he rolled his eyes in exasperation, "I hate to tell you this, but Keith is just as human as you. He puts on his pants one leg at a time, just like you do AND he needs to eat and drink too."

Pidge shrugged and picked up his fork. "So the bottle of Ginger Ale he keeps in his desk drawer isn't Ginger Ale after all," he said, idly fingering the tines on his fork.

"Ginger Ale?" Lance asked sharply.

"Yeah," Pidge said. "When I was giving my report to him, he pulled out a bottle from his desk drawer. You know, the one that he files all our mission reports in."

"Um, yeah, well... Keeping his liquor in a Ginger Ale bottle is an old habit of Keith's..." Lance remarked distractedly, as he mulled over the implications of Pidge's revelation.

It was an open secret to the Force that Pidge looked up to Keith with an admiration that bordered on hero-worship. In return, Pidge was the little brother Keith had never had and Keith tried to set a good example for Pidge to emulate.

Keith's uncharacteristic behavior caused worry to flash across Lance's features for a brief moment before he schooled his expression into a bland one.

"He HAS been drinking more than normal, hasn't he," Hunk remarked quietly. "And while it might not be a problem yet, it might be in a combat situation."

Sven nodded reluctantly, not liking what his duty required him to point out. "I would rather not put you on the spot like this, Lance, but I must ask you this question. Is Keith still capable of command?"

An uncomfortable silence fell across the room for another moment while Lance considered his answer carefully. "Look, Sven," he said at long last. "Keith may be having a bad time right now, but I'm sure he'll come through for us."

"Lance, let's not fool ourselves. Keith has been drinking heavily AND he hasn't been eating OR sleeping properly," Sven said, leaning his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his clasped hands. "I think we have to discuss this now. Is Keith capable of carrying out the duties of his rank?"

"What do you mean, Sven?" Hunk asked, setting down his fork and spoon.

"I'm worried about Keith," Sven admitted frankly. "He's not himself right now. He pretends to be in control, but he's not. And we're not doing him any favors by pretending that nothing's wrong."

Pushing back his chair, Lance stood up and threw his napkin down onto the table in disgust. "I don't believe I'm hearing this. Come on you guys, Keith just got married and got back from his honeymoon; his wife disappeared and he's trying to handle her job in addition to his own. I think he's entitled to —"

The strident sound of alarm klaxons interrupted Lance mid-sentence and ended his spirited defense of his best friend. "Sorry guys," he said instead, taking a deep, calming breath. "This discussion will have to wait. It's time to get to work."


	35. Chapter 34

The Voltron Force burst into the Control Room, much to the relief of the Arussian Lieutenant on duty. The young man, one of the several that Lance had been training to take over the manning of Castle Control, stood up immediately, to allow a more experienced soldier — Hunk — to take his place.

Forgetting to offer the formal salute demanded by tradition, the young Arussian soldier began his report. "The villages at the foot of the Kistrani mountains have reported a strange mist descending from the mountains. Or at least, that's what they thought it was at first. On closer inspection, the mist turned out to a swarm of some sort of insect, no bigger than a locust."

A frissom of alarm crossed Hunk's face as he sunk into the Command Chair and began to type into the console. Within milliseconds, the vast network of satellites that dotted the Arussian sky responded to his commands and transmitted a crisp visual image to Castle Control.

The huge monitor flickered to life and displayed the square of a small village, a familiar sight to the Voltron Force — it was one of the many towns that they had helped rebuild.

Alarm leapt into Lance's eyes as he saw the swarm of insects darken the sky and assault the village like miniature attack ships. The square was filled with panic.

Men, women and children, horses, sheep, chickens and dogs ran around in every direction, all trying to escape the swarm of insects. Tearing at their hair and rending their clothes in terror, the confused, frightened crowd writhed in terror made even more poignant by its silence.

The horror of the grotesque sight reflected on the lenses of Pidge's glasses before the young man turned away, breathing heavily as he strove to keep his breakfast in his stomach.

"May the gods preserve us," Coran breathed, as he entered the control room, leaning heavily on his cane. "I've never seen anything like that before." he said, holding his hand to his chest and trying to catch his breath.

"It's got to be Haggar." Keith said bluntly as he entered the Control Room scant seconds after Coran. "She's finally come out of hiding. Coran. Activate the trans-sys. The rest of you, get to your Lions."

Lance watched Keith stride across the room and stumble over a slightly raised portion of the floor. He reached out and steadied his friend before Keith could hit the ground. "You okay?

"Just dandy," Keith replied.

"If you say so," Lance said dubiously, pulling his friend upright and releasing him. He studied Keith intently. Despite his spirited defense of Keith's ability, he didn't like the way that Keith's eyes didn't quite focus.

" **WAIT!** " Coran's voice rang out as he rapped his cane on the floor. "Keith... Your Highness, please. Do not be rash. You have a responsibility to your people. YOU are the Prince Regent, the ruler of Arus."

Keith blinked in confusion and turned to look at the Prime Minister. "Coran, what are you talking about? I'm the just the Consort, remember? I'm not the regent of anything. I'm not anything at all. I'm just a simple soldier who happened to marry a princess."

"No, Keith, you are not. Not any more," Coran said, shaking his head sadly. "Do you remember these words? Know that when he speaks, he speaks for me. I would that what you do for me, you do for him," the prime minister quoted softly.

"Yeah." Keith agreed distractedly, eying the way that Sven and Hunk pointedly blocked the path that led to the lion tunnels. "I remember Allura saying those words on the balcony after the wedding."

"Those are the Words of Investiture. The words spoken during the Ceremony of Choosing, during which the heir to the Lion throne is named," Coran explained.

"And although Allura skipped most of the ceremony, it was held before the people AND she spoke the Words of Investiture, the two most important requirements for the ceremony... YOU are Arus, now, Your Highness."

Clenching his fists, Keith cursed virulently, exhausting all the profanities he had learned in his travels and inventing some others. He whirled on the Prime Minister and confronted him.

"The people knew this, didn't they Coran? They knew but you didn't tell me, AGAIN. Don't you ever tell me anything, Coran? First the prophesy and now this. What other secrets are you keeping from me?"

The way Keith's voice trembled with the force of his fury caused eyebrows to rise across the room, as did the reaction of the Prime Minister.

Coran responded by raising his voice to Keith for the first time since the arrival of the Voltron Force on Arus. "Would you have listened?" He asked bluntly, impaling Keith with the force of his glare.

Keith froze, exactly as the Prime Minister had planned.

"Allura knew what was going to happen, and she made me promise not to talk to you about this until she was gone." Coran continued in a more reasonable voice, hoping that Keith would understand.

Closing his eyes, Keith sighed heavily, his broad shoulders slumping in frustration and defeat. "I don't understand, Coran. Why'd she do it? And why didn't she tell me?"

"I wish I could be certain," Coran said, laying a comforting hand on Keith's shoulder, "but I believe that Allura felt that she had to face her destiny alone."

Keith blanched. Everything was making strange, twisted sense now. "Of course," he breathed softly, in a voice almost too soft to be heard. "Those visions... We always used to tease her about daydreaming, remember? Well, she used to dream at night too. She'd wake up in the middle of the night, terrified."

"And knowing the Princess as I do, she probably did not tell us because we would worry," Coran mused. "She is more like her mother than I thought."

"We can't go through this now," Keith said, starting forward. "We can call a meeting to discuss everything later. Come on, team. It's time to head out and discover where that swarm came from."

He stopped in mid-stride and barely managed to avoid a painful collision with Lance. "What?!" Keith demanded, leveling a look of murderous fury at his best friend. "Didn't you hear me, Lance? Get a move on."

Lance shook his head with disgust and purposely blocked Keith's path. "Are you nuts? Haven't you been listening? You're the heir to Arus. You have to stay behind where it's safe."

Keith clasped Lance's arm with his own and lowered his head. Lance nodded in satisfaction and lowered his guard, glad that he had made his point.

Keith's dark eyes glinted with satisfaction. He had counted on Lance's reaction. It was the opportunity that he had been waiting for. In one fluid move, Keith tightened his hold on Lance's arm, twisted his shoulder and sent Lance flying to the floor.

"Get the fuck out of my way, Lance," he ordered, his voice rising with barely suppressed hope and excitement. "You can't stop me from going. This is the first sign of Haggar since Allura disappeared. We have to go check it out!"

"Look, Keith," Lance said quietly as he got back on his feet. He willed his friend to listen to reason. "I don't think you should go out there. I know you can handle it — your display convinced me of that — but you're the heir to Arus now. You're too important to risk. Please, let us check this one out without you."

"I'm going. And don't think about pulling rank, Lance. You can't order me to stay behind." Keith said, frost and steel seeping into his tone. "I am STILL Captain of the Voltron Force AND Prince Regent of Arus. If I'm not mistaken, that means I outrank you."

"Like you said," Lance argued in his most persuasive voice as he raked a hand through his hair, a mannerism he might have picked up from Keith himself. "You ARE the Prince Regent of Arus. That means that you're not expendable. You have to stay behind where it's safe."

"I can't stay behind, Lance." Keith said, resolutely dismissing Lance's suggestion. "I NEED to go. I can't explain it but I feel as though Allura's out there and she needs me. Don't you get it? She NEEDS me."

"But still—"

Keith lifted a dark eyebrow. "Look, I AM going to go find my wife and bring her back home and if any of you tell me otherwise, I will have you all thrown in prison for treason or insubordination. Whatever works best. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Lance studied Keith intently for one long moment. The return of Keith's unique blend of intensity and determination did much to raise his spirits and reassure him about his friend's capability.

Taking a step backwards, Lance gave Keith a clear path to the Lion Portals and offered him an apologetic smile. "Sure, Captain Bligh, whatever you say," Lance said as he snapped a crisp salute. "As long as you promise me that you'll take care of yourself out there,"

"Of course I will, He-Who-Does-Not-Knock," Keith promised. A hint of a smile flickered over his face for a brief instant, relieving the hard line of his jaw. "I still have to get even with you for walking into my study unannounced."


	36. Chapter 35

One of the first lessons cadets learned from the Academy's flight instructors was forgetfulness. The best combat pilots were those who simply allowed themselves to forget the world around them.

Nothing extraneous in mind and body, the flight instructors preached, repeating the simple refrain over and over again, until it became automatic nature to the would-be-pilots.

Lance remembered how one of his instructors had impressed on them the need to keep their emotions in check. Emotions were dangerous up in the air. A pilot's survival in a battle depended on his ability to block out anything and everything until the last enemy had vanished from the horizon.

Because they were still a few minutes away from the Kistrani mountains, Lance let his eyes drift over the external and inter-ship monitors of the Red Lion and spared a few moments assessing the flying of each of his team-mates.

Hunk's face was set in an expression of grim determination. The large space explorer handled his lion with deftness, making the most of the brute power that matched Hunk's own.

The Green Lion was drifting slightly off course. Pidge had probably drifted off as well, Lance thought, knowing how the youngest space explorer was often distracted by his thoughts.

In contrast to the Green Lion, the Blue Lion cut through the air cleanly, with the calculated precision that its pilot was known for. Rapier — Sven's academy callsign suited him perfectly, Lance mused.

Turning back to his controls, Lance watched his best friend fly for some time, carefully evaluating Keith's emotional state. It was Lance's duty to send Keith back to the Castle if he felt that Keith was endangering himself and the rest of the team.

Thankfully though, Keith's flying showed no signs of being affected by his emotional state. Keith flew like a man possessed, undoubtedly keeping his emotions in check by sheer force of will.

For once, communications channel was quiet, without any of the friendly bickering that the Voltron Force normally indulged in. All of them were occupied with their thoughts and the need to get to the Kistrani mountains as soon as possible.

Sven's voice broke the silence that enveloped them, "We are approaching the mountain range now. ETA One minute. Expect to be surrounded by a welcoming party any second now."

With moments, the swarm of insects dropped out of the sky and landed on the lions, covering them until they were completely engulfed in glowing, opalescent bodies.

Lance swore under his breath and resisted the urge to duck as the horde of insects swarmed over his Lion, covering the external monitors and cutting off his visuals of the world outside his cockpit.

A shiver crawled up his spine as he watched the way that the locust-like creatures writhed over his external monitors. He felt like one of the ancient bee-keepers on Earth, coated with a blanket of wriggling little insects.

"Guys, the development on their capitulum is fascinating," Pidge called out over the inter-ship communications channel. The youngest space explorer's voice was unsteady with revulsion. "And oh yuck! Guys, there's so much frass on our lions."

Lance's brows drew together in confusion over the unfamiliar term. "Pidge, he ventured finally, "Are you taking about the slime on the backs of the lions?"

"Not really," Pidge said as he bent over his instruments. "But you're close. Frass is insect excrement, Lance. It's usually nothing to worry about. But there's something different about this frass. It's got an usually high acid content. Pretty strong stuff."

"The slime seems to counteract the effect of the acid," Pidge continued as he frowned at readouts. "I don't know how, but I think the lions produced it automatically to neutralize that threat. It's a good thing they could do that. Otherwise, we'd be sharing our cockpits with hundreds of those insects."

"Gee, thanks. That's a load off my mind," Lance murmured, shuddering with disgust at the thought of what was coating the back of his lion. "I'm DEFINITELY going to take my lion out for a nice lava bath when we get back home later."

 **Keith hated the taste of desperation and dread. The familiar metallic taste lay on his tongue, coppery and sharp, filling his mouth with its bitterness.**

His thoughts turned to the days not so long ago when his emotions could be forced by sheer determination. His life had been a colorless and empty one until he had seen Allura glide down the stairs in the old castle into his life.

Keith clenched his jaw in impotent anguish as he forced his thoughts away from the what-ifs or should-have-beens that had been tormented him during his waking moments.

Find your center, he ordered himself harshly. You can't afford to lose it now, Blackwell. There are too many people counting on you to do your job — and to do it right.

Nothing extraneous in mind and body, he reminded himself, hearing in his mind the echo of his flight instructor's voice. Listen to your ship. Be one with it.

His flight instructor knew what he was talking about, Keith realized, after a few minutes had passed.

The power contained in the purr of the Black's engines as they soared across the sky WAS reassuring and for the first time since his wife's disappearance, Keith felt the return of his usual strength and confidence.

 **Day turned to night in the villages around the Kistrani mountains. The sun hid behind millions of opalescent bodies as the swarm of angry insects continued unabated.**

Lance landed the Red Lion in the middle of what had once been a thriving town. Touching a button on his console and pulling on his yoke, he commanded his lion to crouch on the ground.

Small fires dotted the area and were the only source of illumination. The light that they cast threw eerie shadows and highlighted the bodies that lay scattered on the ground.

One body, that of a young man in his early twenties, caught Lance's attention. The lifeless corpse lying on the ground had once been a living, breathing human being, a person with his own hopes and dreams and someone's son, friend or brother.

Impotent fury made Lance's hands tighten on the control yoke of his lion. So much life wasted, he seethed as his dark eyes darted from corner to corner of his view screen.

He knew that death was still not finished with the small village. The lion could only carry so many and the men of the village had decided to sacrifice themselves to give their mothers, wives and children a chance to live.

The pilot bowed his head in a silent tribute to bravery of the Arussian spirit. Despite the pain that glazed over their eyes because the open sores that blistered their skin, the men helped their women and children clamber into the open jaws of the Red Lion.

Within moments, the mouth of the lion was filled with refugees, a tribute to the brisk efficiency that the Arussians had been forced to learn if they wanted to survive the hundreds of raids mounted by Zarkon's forces.

Lance's heart wrenched as the lion took to the air, imagining the tears trickling down the cheeks of the women and children as they watched their husbands, fathers and sons run for the uncertain safety of the buildings that had been their homes.

He seethed inwardly, feeling as though he were deserting the men he had come to think of as his comrades-in-arms in the struggle against Zarkon's tyranny.

Although he wanted nothing more than to turn back and open the hatch of the lion to allow more people a chance for safety, he knew he couldn't. The insects were dangerous — the Force had to practice the necessary precautionary measures.

A drop of sweat rolled down his nose as he piloted though the empty streets of the village. A frown of concentration creased his forehead as he checked the impulse to soar above the hovering cloud of insects.

Flying this low was dangerous, Lance mused as he carefully maneuvered through the empty streets of the village, but flying too high would be fatal for his passengers. The fragile respiratory systems of human beings were not designed for high altitude and airspeed.

A warning light on his console flashed rapidly, alerting him of an incoming threat. Lance's eyes widened with alarm as another swarm of insects descended on him and he looked around frantically for the Yellow Lion, which was supposed to have been flying interference duty for him.

"Oh, Huuunk!" Lance called out over the inter-ship Comm-Channel, checking the urge to send his lion up onto a steep climb. "Now would be a good time to make your presence felt!"

 **While the other members of the Force occupied themselves with the rescue operations, Pidge explored the unsettled areas around the Kistrani mountains, searching for signs of Haggar as Keith had ordered him to.**

Pidge had protested against Keith's orders initially, wanting to help the people of the affected villages evacuate, but Keith had matter-of-factly pointed out that evacuation was a stop-gap measure.

The young space explorer squirmed uncomfortably as he remembered the way Keith's dark eyes had bored into his own as the captain had patiently explained WHY the Force HAD to neutralize the insects permanently, before they spread out, occupied more territory and threatened more lives.

The Blue Lion could turn the insects into black hail with its ice darts while the artificial sandstorms called up by the Yellow Lion could knock them from the air.

The Green Lion's missiles and lasers were useless in this situation and the only other weapon in its arsenal — the windblast — would cause more harm than good.

A well placed gust of wind, Pidge admitted, could scatter the insects around the entire continent, a thought that was disturbing at the very least.

With a shrug, Pidge resigned himself to searching the area the Keith had asked him to concentrate on, wondering why Keith had been so sure that Haggar was lurking around there.

Pidge peered out of his cockpit to look up at the hovering cloud that covered the area like a opalescent blanket. The insects were so numerous in number that their shadows turned the lush green foliage into countless shades of gray.

Pidge's eyes narrowed as he noticed something. There. By that cliff. There was a hole in the sinister blanket where sunlight beamed down in a single perfect, almost vertical shaft.

Carefully controlling his airspeed, Pidge kept the sound of the lion's engines to a muffled roar as he piloted the lion nearer the cliff for a closer look.

Training the external monitors of the Green Lion on the ground, he recognized a cloaked figure. "Keith," he whispered breathlessly, blindly groping for his communicator. "You were right! It's Haggar! She's here!"


	37. Chapter 36

The sun was warm on Haggar's face as she stood in the middle of the shaft of light. With staff raised and arms uplifted, her hands clenched and unclenched, as she directed the swarm of insects the way that a conductor would command an orchestra.

Transfixed by an inhuman joy, she swung her staff in the air, relishing in the intoxicating feel of the magic that shimmered in her veins. Her powers intermingled with those that she had stolen from the Princess of Arus in a euphoric siren's song that was startling in its intensity.

The power within her demanded release and a song of power rose unbidden to Haggar's lips. "Quassa, Alweqwax, Opweaasn, Lujoqa, Moqo'wkiii!" she cried, raising her voice to the heavens and letting the winds snatch her words away.

The air around the witch thickened and shimmered with light. A kaleidescopic rainbow of lights formed, flashing turquoise, agate, citrine, amethyst, onyx and garnet in the brilliant morning sunlight.

The swirl of colors grew merged, grew brighter and dimmed as another horde of insects appeared in response to Haggar's summons. Satisfaction lightened the witch's golden eyes as she marveled at the ease at which she cast her spell.

What she was doing — summoning living things and binding them to her will — was something beyond the capability of most magic users... But then again, when HAD she ever been like others? Haggar gloated proudly as pride lifted lifted the corners of her mouth.

Even as a child growing up in the hidden royal palaces of Cador, the young Haggar — Zirra, as she had been named then — had never been like the other royal children. She had been blessed with a natural talent so strong that it astounded her teachers and terrified her parents, though they were magic-users themselves.

The Council of Elders, whose duty it was to train the Daughters of Cador in the magical arts, lavished Zirra with attention. Because they could not teach what she instinctively knew, they urged her to find her own Way and discover things for herself.

But instead of being guided by the light as they expected her to, the young princess' power blended into darker seas. Unlike the rest of her family, she was inherently cruel at heart and selfishness drove her to abandon the control that should have tempered the use of her abilities.

Whispers and gossip circulated around the planet, eventually reaching the ears of the Council and the Royal Family, telling tales of how the animals of the night would appear in response to Zirra's summons and how the Princess Zirra delighted in causing others pain.

But Zirra's appearance alone belied all those rumors. How could one so beautiful be evil? The Royal Family and the Council asked those brave enough to approach them. After all, the ancient legends told of the heavy price exacted by the misuse of ones talents and Zirra grew more and more exquisite everyday.

Haggar prided herself in being so cunning and so strong, that she had concealed her ambition and agenda from the divinations of her mentors. By the time the Council discovered what Zirra was, what she had become, it was too late.

Her expression twisted into a grotesque parody of a smile. Never one to leave anything to chance, she routinely cast scrye spells to watch over anyone who could be a threat. She congratulated herself for having been astute enough to do so — it gave her the chance to flee Cador before an organized offensive could be mounted against her.

Power without restraint. Knowledge without wisdom. Passion without love. Zirra had become the living embodiment of everything that the people of Cador hated most — cruelty, selfishness and malice.

The council had no choice. Cursing themselves as fools, they leveled the greatest possible punishment they could on the princess. Zirra, the Daughter of Cador and the descendant of a long line of bearers of the light ceased to exist, only to be reborn as Haggar, which meant "she without a name".

As a witch, Haggar's natural talent was impressive, but to establish herself as a force to be reckoned with, she had to set herself above all others. Her formidable talent was an advantage but it was not enough. Those who practiced the dark arts needed more — they had to learn new ways of inspiring terror in others.

She devoted herself to her studies with a passion that she had never quite felt before. For almost a century, she traversed the universe, galaxy-to-galaxy, planet-to-planet, propeled by her thirst for knowledge and the need to learn spells and new ways of doing things.

Haggar met the young prince Zarkon of Sketh on one of her trips and immediately recognized in him a kindred spirit — one full of fire and ambition even though it was stifled by the conservatism and cowardice of his peace-loving father and three older brothers.

Even though she was reluctant to involve herself, Haggar watched the handsome prince from a distance, feeling for him and sympathizing with his situation, not knowing that he had noticed her too.

She should not have been surprised, Haggar thought, the image of how she had looked then abruptly sparking to life in her mind with crystal clear clarity. Though stripped of her name and heritage, by birth, she was still a Daughter of Cador and she possessed the legendary beauty — sapphire eyes and sun kissed hair — that marked them all.

A brittle, humorless laugh escaped Haggar's lips as her face twisted with bitterness. How could she have been so gullible? She wondered, cursing — not for the first time — the effectively of her protective spells and wards. Despite her formidable power and her mastery of the dark arts, she had fallen prey to someone stronger and more cunning than she.

Zarkon's handsome cerulean face and flowing white hair disguised the predator hidden within. In no time at all, with prodigious use of his charm, he won her heart and aroused her passions to meet his own.

Knowing that for Haggar, the loss of her position after being stripped of her title and heritage was a festering sore, Zarkon promised her the chance to rule at his side as his queen, a position that Haggar accepted gladly.

Pledging her loyalty, Haggar dedicated herself and her talents to furthering her husband's cause, casting spells that made Zarkon's parents and older brothers sicken and die. Those who had freely waited on the old king and queen were now constrained to serve and were punished harshly — banished to the newly constructed Pit of Skulls — for small, often imaginary, mistakes.

Sketh eventually came to be known as Doom, a tribute to the gloom and despair that filled the air. Mourning replaced festivity and laughter. Grotesque and alien creatures inhabited the palace moat and cesspools — the result of Haggar's experiments to turn men into the monstrous weapons known as ro-beasts.

Watching benevolently from his golden throne, Zarkon was pleased. Helpmate, advisor, bedmate, witch. Haggar was all that he had hoped for and more than he had imagined — except for one major detail — her inability to bear him an heir.

Sensing her husband's disquiet, Haggar turned her talents to producing the desired heir with a singularity of purpose that bordered on desperation. Potions. Spells. Charms. Offerings to the spirits. Dancing naked under the blood red moon.

So desperate was she, so caught up in her pursuit that she failed to notice that her beauty was fading. To her dismay, she had failed to listen to the warnings contained in ancient legends of Cador about how corruption exacted a heavy price.

By the time she realized what had happened, it was too late. The desire that had once shone out of her husband's eyes gradually turned into revulsion as her golden hair fell out in clumps and her skin wrinkled and took on a decidedly green tint.

Repulsed by her appearance, Zarkon ordered their marriage dissolved, but refused to release her from her pledge of loyalty, despite her pleas and entreaties. After all, he mocked, she was more useful as a witch than as a wife.

Sick at heart, the witch withdrew from the world and cloistered herself in her laboratory. Fear wrapped itself around her heart and mind like razor-sharp talons of ice — she realized that not only was her beauty fading, her powers were weakening as well.

Haggar scoured Zarkon's empire and rounded up as many magic users as she could. Torturing and tormenting them, she pried out every bit of knowledge that they knew that she did not. She collected every scrap of written information about magic that she could lay her hands on — thousands of books, grimoires, fragments of manuscripts — and all the magical artifacts that she could find.

The witch was so intent on her search that she barely noticed when Zarkon took another woman to bride and to bed. A princess in her own right, Zarkon's new queen brought him a planet for his empire and also gave him the gift he had desired more than anything else in the universe — a son, his long awaited heir. Lotor, Prince of Doom.

Finally, at long last, Haggar discovered the spell she had been searching for — a spell of transference — one that would allow her to defy the limitations of her own body by transferring her disembodied self into a new host, taking the appearance and powers of the host for her own.

Emerging from her self-imposed isolation, she experimented successfully on her former husband's new bride. With malicious glee, she seduced her husband and reverted to her normal self in the lazy aftermath of passion. The look on Zarkon's face was priceless, Haggar cackled, remembering how horror had flashed across the king's handsome face and way that he had lurched naked from her bed.

The witch's face broke out into a small, satisfied smile. "Useless Old Witch am I?" Haggar laughed as she mocked one of Zarkon's favorite insults. "Let's see how useless you find me now! I am now as strong as I once was. You will pay for all the times you have humiliated me!"


	38. Chapter 37

"Keith — Haggar just summoned up another batch of insects." Pidge reported, opening up a group channel on his communications' monitor. "I'm going in now. I want to try to distract her before she manages to order up some more."

"Hold on! Let's go in together," Keith ordered, frantically checking the readouts on his screen. "Hunk and Sven are on their way. They'll be with you any second now. Lance and I will join you as soon our last batch of villagers unload."

The young space explorer listened to the captain's lecture quietly while eyeing a wire dangling from his console. Yanking the wire out of its jack, he watched with satisfaction as his screen erupted in random lines of color. Electronic noise reverberated through the lion cabin.

"What did you say, Keith?" Pidge asked, miming confusion. "I can't hear you. My comm system's on the fritz. The insects are generating some sort of static, I think. I'm going in now. Send backup as soon as you can. Green Lion out."

The insistent drone of aircraft engines shook Haggar out of her reverie.

Looking up, she recognized the flash of emerald as one of those accursed lion ships. Her wrinkled face filled with rage. She lifted her staff, loosed a sizzling bolt of pure energy in the direction of the Green Lion and directed her horde of insects to swarm it.

She smiled balefully, knowing from her experiences with the Voltron Force that the youngest space explorer piloted the Green, the lion of the wind. Did he have enough experience to know NOT to summon the wind currents that were his to command?

Probably not, she decided. Her smile widened in anticipation as she imagined the chaos and confusion that that would follow after her insects covered Arus, one village after another, engulfing it in a blanket of living twilight.

Her eyes sparkling with amusement, the witch laughed out loud at the delicious irony of the situation. Not only was she using the body of the Princess of Arus, she was also going to use one of the lion ships to destroy it as well.

The Green Lion dodged her energy blast with ease, but its attack trajectory faltered as it was set upon by millions of insects. The wind caught Haggar's triumphant laughter in its blustery grasp and threw it against the mountains, where it echoed, growing stronger and stronger with each repetition.

So intent was Haggar on her imminent victory, so fascinated was she by her twisted creations that she paid no attention to the rumbling that came from behind her. Her distraction nearly cost her life as a well-placed missile blast exploded on the ground near her feet.

Her golden eyes dark with anger — at herself for her abstraction and for whoever had the temerity to dare attack her — the witch glared at her attacker from behind the magical shield she had thrown up to protect herself. It was another lion — the red one this time.

She glared at it balefully, the words of a spell rising to her lips. A putrid green ball of witchlight formed in her hand, glowing malevolently. Cupping her hand around it gingerly, Haggar prepared to hurl it at the red lion, muttering another incantation to imbue in it all the destructive energies at her command. "Qw'sua, Mish'uya, Aashiya, Ooopiaaaaaaah!"

Her spell fizzled into nothingness as she lost her footing and slipped ignonimously down the suddenly frozen ground. The purr of the engines of the Blue Lion, its mechanical jaws parted in what almost looked like a grin, greeted the witch when she looked up.

More lions — the Black and the Yellow approached from different vectors. The Green Lion, ignoring the insects that swarmed around it, followed closely on the Black's tail. Joined by the other two lions, they arranged themselves around her.

Haggar's lips twisted in a feral snarl of rage. Surrounded on five sides, the witch cursed her lack of foresight, for having forgotten to prepare a ro-beast to distract the space explorers while she made her escape.

"HAGGAR!" A voice thundered out of the Black Lion. Amplified by the communication systems of his ship, the captain's voice was almost deafening in its intensity. "We have you surrounded. Tell me where the Princess Allura is and surrender immediately."

"Your wife is closer than you think, young man." Haggar said in a voice that was almost tender. Relishing the moment, she fingered the edges of the concealing hood of her cloak and slowly pulled it off.

The golden hair of the Princess of Arus flew freely in the breeze.

Keith couldn't get enough air. A wave of dizziness and an awful sense of unreality washed over him, blurring his vision around the edges. Where did the nightmare end and the reality begin? He gripped his control yoke with white-knuckled intensity, not wanting to believe what he saw in his monitors.

He felt the same sense of deja vu he had experienced when he met Romelle for the first time. Familiar but not, Allura's beautiful face looked back at him with wearing an expression that could only be described as malicious pleasure.

"I think you will find it in your best interest to let me go," Haggar continued speaking, in her pseudo-gentle voice, a small smile blossoming on her face. "After all, whatever you do to me, you do to your precious princess... You wouldn't want to do anything to hurt her, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't." Keith agreed at last, reestablishing a fragile control over himself. He miraculously managed to keep his face expressionless even though his eyes were dark with suppressed anguish.

"I thought as much." Haggar nodded approvingly. Taking advantage of the confusion her revelation had cased, she decided to make her escape. She waved her wooden staff in the air and a small portal appeared in response to her spell. "And now, it is time to bid you farewell. We will meet again, Space Explorers. You can count on it!"


	39. Chapter 38

Tossing her head restlessly, Allura shifted in her sleep, trying to outrun the vague nightmarish images that haunted her in her dreams. She ran through a barren dreamscape chased by an omnipresent Haggar, whose cloaked form appeared to block every direction she turned.

Her head swiveled from side to side, looking from Haggar to another as they reached out with hands that resembled the talons of birds of prey. The pain caused by the witch's long nails startled the princess from her uneasy sleep.

Her skin was cold with sweat and her heart raced with nervous anticipation. The dread and fear that had permeated her unconscious mind echoed into her wakeful one. Danger. Danger everywhere. Circling. Stalking. Watching.

Allura got to her feet, determined to meet whatever lay ahead on equal terms. She held herself ready, arms bent and held in front of her, weight balanced lightly on the balls of her feet, the position prescribed by her judo training.

Her caution saved her life. Whirling to one side, she barely managed to dodge as she was set upon by something that looked like a gigantic centipede; its thick exoskeleton glowed eerily in the dim light.

Although the creature was looked wraithlike and insubstantial, there was nothing ghost-like about its serrated mandibles. Gasping with dismay, Allura scrambled backwards as the creature reached for her.

The princess' reaction — feinting to the left and rolling to the right — was a credit to patience and dedication of her teachers, the other members of the Voltron Force, who had spent almost three years training her to defend herself.

Realizing that her constant motion was the only thing keeping her alive, Allura continued to roll. Her sigh of relief was almost a sob as her questing hand touched something that she recognized as a crystal shard.

Grabbing it, she thrust it wildly at the creature, not even noticing the way that the sharp facets cut the palm of her hand. She stabbed at it again and again, miraculously managing to slip her makeshift-weapon between the joints of its milky-white armor.

The centipede screamed in pain and reared up on the lower half of its body, snagging a fold of her long skirt with one of the sharp blades on its mandibles as it did so. Panicked, Allura pulled at her skirt with all her strength, freed it and retreated.

Forcing herself to make a stand when all her instincts told her to run, Allura watched as the maddened creature prepared itself to attack once again. She stood still as the monster rushed at her blindly.

Her eyes were wide with terror, but she found the strength to wait until the last possible moment to dodge. Whirling to one side, she tightened her grip and thrust the crystal carefully into the eye of the centipede. Warm viscous fluid burst over her as the creature twitched and died.

Safe for the moment, Allura looked around her surroundings curiously as she tried to get her bearings. The pillars of crystal were the obvious place to begin and she stepped closer to examine one.

Bright curiosity shone in her eyes as she likened the crystals to the scrying glasses that her mother had often used — but instead of showing events in far off places as her mother's did, they were showing the treasured memories of her life.

Childhood games with the Space Mice. Her father reading fairytales to her. Keith's wry grin. The soothing lullaby of her mother's voice. History lessons with Coran. Waltzing with Keith back on Terra. Nanny baking a chocolate cake. Picnics with the Voltron Force. That last idyllic moment with Keith...

She glanced at another column. It displayed another set of memories — not hers, but connected somehow. A grove lined with worea, trees that could only be found in the cool valleys of Cador. Castle Doom. A gnarled hand stroking Coba, the blue cat. The Pit of Skulls.

Slaves screamed and writhed in agony — their bones lengthened, their joints cracked and twisted, their faces flattened — until their entire bodies were changed into ro-beasts that vaguely resembled the men they had once been.

She was looking at HAGGAR's memories! Allura realized with a horrified gasp. Her knees went weak as she fought to keep down her panic. A tear trickled down her cheek as she watched the death and pain Haggar had caused.

Tearing her gaze away from the crystal with some difficulty, Allura tried to control the nausea that rose up in her stomach... Horror gripped her heart in its tight fist as she remembered the ancient legend Coran had made her read while growing up — some of them told of magical beings who could steal men's souls.

She sank down on the grassy field and stared up at the moonless, starless sky, trying to understand what had happened to her. Her existence had all the qualities of the most terrifying nightmare she could imagine.

The stolen glimpses of Haggar's memories that Allura saw were only the smallest part of what the witch had done to her unfortunate victims. From what little the princess had seen, whenever Haggar took over a host body, she utterly destroyed the host's personality — and possibly even the host's soul.

What was she doing here then? The princess wondered. A vague memory formed — of fleeing before Haggar's power and building herself a small sanctuary while the witch's disembodied spirit was busy stealing her physical body.

With a brief shudder, Allura realized how close she had come to total oblivion. Even if she had managed to escape from Haggar the first time, she couldn't let her guard down. The witch would keep on trying to find her and assimilate her being into the whole of Haggar's memories.

With a pang, she remembered how she and Keith had bickered playfully after their sparring match in the salle. Taking her father's motto as her own, she had laughingly asserted, "The best defense is a good offense."

It worked then and if she were lucky, maybe it would work now. Allura thought, her face set with grim determination. If she concentrated, she could sense the witch's preoccupation — it was as good a time as any to leave the relative safety of her sanctuary to explore the uncertain environment outside it.


	40. Chapter 39

Lance sank back against his seat with an audible sigh, enjoying the way that the cracked leather embraced his lanky frame. Idly tracing a deep gorge in the wood of his armrest, Lance noted once again, just how ugly the furniture in Keith's study was. If the chairs and sofa hadn't been so horribly comfortable, he would have added his voice to Nanny and Allura as the women urged Keith to allow them to redecorate his study.

Thinking of inconsequential matters kept Lance occupied and stopped him from going insane. He would be the first to admit that patience had never been one of his strong points and this insufferable waiting — while Keith met with Coran — was beginning to get on his nerves.

Checking his chronograph for the seventh time in as many minutes, Lance resisted the urge to fidget impatiently. Without any conversation, the atmosphere in the study was hushed and solemn, something that seemed to suit the moods of the other members of the Voltron Force.

Gentle snores emanated from the sofa where Hunk was sprawled. Much to Lance's amazement, the large space explorer had taken advantage of the momentary lull and had fallen asleep within minutes after their arrival at the castle.

Sven, on the other hand, had occupied himself by doing something productive— going over reports about unusual weather patterns. The dark-haired space explorer's patience and attention to detail was almost legendary. Sven was one of the few people Lance knew who could sit motionless for hours at a time, seemingly unaware of how much time had passed.

Lance's gaze sharpened with concern as his eyes lit on Pidge. For once, Pidge wasn't doodling madly into his portable computer — something he did during idle moments. Instead, the young genius was on his feet, staring out at the rolling green fields that surrounded the castle.

A pang of guilt washed over the first officer of the Voltron Force. He had been so busy worrying about Keith that he hadn't thought of checking up on Pidge. Besides being princess and teammate, Allura had also been a friend and sister to Pidge and her disappearance and subsequent reappearance must have been difficult on the young man.

 **Pidge stared out of the windows of Keith's study, watching the play of sunlight as it glinted off the sparkling waters of the castle's lake. Far off in the distance, he could see rolling green hills and majestic forests.**

It was an idyllic scene that filled him with an inner peace and an impotent rage. Although he was Baltean by birth, after his planet's destruction at the hands of Zarkon, he had embraced Arus as a second home.

A newcomer to Arus would have thought that the entire planet was as green and peaceful as the area around the Castle but Pidge knew better. He and the others had seen first-hand the devastating effects of Zarkon's weaponry.

The fields around the villages near the Kistrani mountains were empty — their produce gone; devoured by Haggar's swarm of insects. Without assistance from the castle, the year ahead would be a difficult one for the villagers.

Shaking his head, Pidge marveled at the irony of things. In their efforts to protect Arus from the ro-beasts, the Voltron Force themselves caused much of the damage to the planet. Incidental damage happened in all battles, despite the Force's best efforts otherwise.

He knew that Arus would heal itself. It had done so often enough in the past. Renewal was like the coming of spring. Without knowing how it happened — or even exactly when — a luxurious green carpet would suddenly appear to cover the scorched earth.

Pidge's brow furrowed as something occurred to him; a little niggling in the back of his head that would not go away. There was something strange about the way that Arus recovered from its injuries. Things grew back so fast that it wasn't natural.

Crossing to the console on Keith's desk, he tapped out a series of commands. Entering a sequence of coordinates, he summoned up an aerial view of the battleground where the Green had faced Haggar's tree-beast.

It was blackened and devoid of plant life.

Entering another set of coordinates, he pulled up another visual — this time, of the place of the battleground where they had fought the Minotaur beast that attacked just before Keith and Allura's wedding.

It was verdantly green. New shrubs and bushes poked out of the crevasses and crags created by the incredible force of the explosions during the battle. Wildflowers blossomed haphazardly, sprinkling the area with riotous patches of color.

A hand on his shoulder made him jump.

"What's up squirt?" Lance asked.

"These are two separate battlegrounds," Pidge explained, pointing with one hand while he adjusted his glasses with the other. "The image on the left is the Wahanab forest on Arus' southern continent while the one on the right is where we fought the minotaur before the wedding."

"Minotaur Beast? That's the bull-like one, right? The one that made me lose my desert to Hunk?" Lance wondered as a puzzled frown drew his eyebrows together. "And the forest you mentioned is where you fought that tree-thing before All—"

"Yeah. That's the one." Pidge interrupted his friend curtly, not wanting to remember the disastrous events that followed the Wanahab battle. "There's something funny about those battlegrounds. It's almost as though nothing ever happened in the one on the right. Here, look at this.."

Lance gave the monitor a cursory glance and saw what Pidge meant immediately. The contrast between the two sites was startling. Realization and confusion dawned on his face. "Why do they look so different?"

The discreet sound of someone clearing his throat brought conversation to a halt and the Voltron Force looked up in unison at the other people who had joined them in the room. Keith, Coran, Nanny and a familiar blonde-haired woman whom Lance recognized from his intelligence profiles as Allura's Aunt Orla, the Queen of Cador.


	41. Chapter 40

"Your Majesty, these are the other members of the Voltron Force." Keith began to make the introductions as he waited for Sven to roll Hunk off the couch. "Lance. Pidge. Hunk and Sven. Guys, Her Majesty, Orla of Cador."

"We were not expecting your arrival, Your Majesty, but we are grateful that you came when you did." Keith continued, taking a seat behind his desk. "Maybe now we can get to the bottom of everything... In the past few days, we've discovered secrets within secrets within even more secrets..."

Assuming the traditional position of the Prime Minister — behind and to the right of the sovereign — Coran winced and lowered his eyes in deference to the truth in Keith's words. He cleared his throat and addressed the youngest space explorer. "I couldn't help but overhear what you said to Lance, Pidge. Your powers of observation are to be commended."

"I was right, wasn't I?" Pidge asked shrewdly. "There IS something strange about the way that the plants grew back."

"Not really," Coran answered. "Not strange. I call it special, although some would call it magical."

"We aren't going to talk about the metaphysics of how life is created, now, are we?" Lance asked. A chestnut eyebrow arched skywards as he simultaneously rolled his eyes. "Please, spare us, Coran. I for one heard enough about that in philosophy classes in the academy."

Coran ignored Lance's interjection and turned to Keith, continuing to speak as though he had not been interrupted. "The rapid recovery that Pidge noticed how quickly wastelands were reborn is due, to a certain extent, to what Arussians call X'pquiaan, a special affinity that the land the members of the House of Lyonnaise have to the land."

"That's why neither you nor Allura left Arus after Zarkon started attacking. You're linked to the land too, aren't you?" Keith asked. Catching sight of the strange looks being sent in his direction, he reassured them by explaining further, "Allura once told me that Coran's family was distantly related to hers."

The prime minister nodded. "Many of the old Arussian nobility have familial ties to the House of Lyonnaise." A hint of humor gleamed in his eyes. "For example, three centuries ago, an ancestor of mine — my great-great-great-great-grandmother — earned titles and wealth for her family by serving as King Varen the Second's favorite mistress. I am directly descended from her son, the king's bastard."

"So you feel the needs of the land too?" Sven asked.

"Not exactly," Coran replied. "I can sense when the land is in distress, but I cannot pinpoint the cause of the problem. Only the monarch and the heir to the Lion Throne have that ability, to feel the need, as you called it, and use their powers to heal the planet."

"The powers of the faerie queen," Keith murmured as he propped his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on his clasped hands. "Allura told me that story when I asked her to tell me about the taking of the sword."

Coran nodded. "Because the prince loved his land so much, if Arus was in danger, he was in danger. And if Arus was hurt, he was hurt. So, when the faerie queen cast the scrye spell to watch over her prince, she inadvertently tied herself to the land. The bond that she created eventually became known as the X'pquiaan bond and was passed on to her children and her children's children through the centuries that followed."

"Do not discount what we are telling you," Orla cautioned noticing the fleeting disbelief that flashed across the faces of the space explorers. "The energy created by the bond can be sensed by magic users. The archives in Cador document the failed attempts of many unscrupulous magic users to harness the power of the bond for their own nefarious means."

"Why did they fail?" Hunk asked.

"Nothing comes without a price," Orla explained. "Magic users must be willing to sacrifice something for their power. The faerie queen keyed her spell with her blood, so only those who share it — like some of the ancient nobility and the House of Lyonaisse — feel the bond. But besides that, she also built another safeguard into her spell, like Coran told you. Only the monarch and the heir can harness the power of the bond."

"So we can expect Haggar to come back." Lance stated bluntly. "We all know how greedy and ambitious the old witch is and if what you're saying is right, the power in the bond will call to her like honey to flies."

"Only this time, she'll be rested and at full power," Sven said grimly, his eyes dark with memory. "She was just toying with us earlier. From what I read of Pidge's report, it seemed like she was just experimenting with her powers."

"So, we wait." Keith murmured thoughtfully, swiveling his chair around to stare sightlessly out of the windows that that lined one entire wall of his study."

"And hope... and pray," Nanny muttered in a voice that trembled as she spoke. Bowing her head to disguise the tears that welled up in her eyes, the governess worried her ever-present prayer beads between her thumb and finger.

An uncomfortable silence fell across the room as everyone stared at Nanny's bent form. Although the governess tried to hide her feelings, her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs and tears darkened the immaculately white, starched skirts of her uniform.

The Voltron Force exchanged mutually helpless looks with Coran. The princess' governess had been a source of strength for them and her determined efforts in maintaining the daily routine formed the framework around which life in the castle continued.

"It's just like Juliana again," Nanny added as tears flowed down her lined cheeks, misery making her look years older than she actually was. "It's happening again... Just the way it happened before, years ago."

Orla's blue eyes turned midnight with emotion as the queen gracefully rose from her seat and knelt before the woman who had loved and served her sister and her niece, offering wordless sympathy and support.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked in a tone that demanded immediate attention. "It happened before... WHEN did this happen before? If this situation has had precedents, we should go back and study them."

An old but still keenly felt grief flashed across the queen's face.

His body tight with expectation, Keith leaned forward as Orla opened her mouth to speak only to clasp her hand over her mouth to muffle a sob.

A heartbeat passed in silence. Then another. And still another.

"Haggar transferred into the body of another Daughter of Cador once before," Orla finally explained once she had regained control over her emotions. "My sister's. The nameless one used Juliana's form to draw Voltron up close and then used my sister's magic to split him up into the five lions that you fly now."

"Why am I not surprised that I don't know this?" Lance muttered sarcastically. "I suppose that's the reason why the queen is buried outside the castle instead of in the Royal Crypt with King Alfor?"

"From dust we came and to dust we shall return," Coran murmured. "The crypt holding the bones of the kings and queens of Arus lies far below the castle, deep within the planet to remind us of that fact... When Juliana... killed herself... there was nothing left to bury." Breathing heavily, he took another moment to compose himself. "The monument outside the castle is empty. It is simply a marker to a life spent in the service of the people of Cador and Arus."

"And it harm none," Orla agreed, her voice strengthening as she continued speaking. "My sister chose to die rather than allow her body and her powers to be used against those she loved the most." She looked across the room and met Pidge's eyes with her own. "My niece told me that you have a twin so I know you will understand me when I say that my sister and I had a special bond. Through it, we could feel each other's joy and pain. She was in me as I was in her.

"You felt her die, didn't you?" Pidge breathed, remembering only too well the emptiness he had felt when Chip, his twin brother, had been seriously injured in one of the Vehicle Force's many skirmishes with the Drule empire.

The stricken look on the queen's face answered the young space explorer's question. "I'm sorry. That must have been tough," he said, cursing himself when he was unable to think of anything more intelligent to say.

"It was like dying myself." Orla said bluntly. "And I have never been the same since. When my twin was alive, I was never lonely, even after Juliana left Cador to marry Alfor. I could sense her in my heart. But now, there is an emptiness that nothing can complete."

A bitter smile tilted the corners of the queen's lips. "And my powers have weakened considerably too. When Juliana was alive, it was child's play to open a portal between Arus and Cador. But now, it takes most, if not all of my strength."

"So where does that leave us?" Sven asked. "What do we do now?"

"As Keith said, we wait." Coran answered simply. "If Haggar has transferred to Allura's body as you say she has, she will be back. She cannot help it. The ties that bind Allura to Arus are too strong for her to ignore."


	42. Chapter 41

Superstition was a strong force in Arus. The rise and fall of the sun determined the rhythm of life. Believing that evil beings roamed freely in the dark of the night, people would only leave their homes while the sun hung in the horizon and kept indoors while darkness blanketed the land,

The privacy that the darkness offered and the freedom of a solitary ride were balm to Keith's aching soul. He allowed Deheum to set the pace, trusting in his mount's sure-footedness and intelligence, qualities that were shared by all of the horses in the Royal Stables.

Urging the stallion up a forested hill behind the castle, Keith breathed in heavily, relishing the cold crispness of the morning air. The wind played with his hair and filled his nostrils with the scent of dew.

Sensing his master's mood, the stallion spurred himself on to an even faster pace. Gathering himself for a jump, he took to the air effortlessly, avoiding a log that blocked his path and burst thorough the forest into a clearing at the hills summit. Trumpeting his disappointment, Deheum reared and danced on his hind legs.

Laughing at his mount's antics, Keith concentrated on keeping his seat and waited until Deheum calmed down before dismounting. "You enjoy these rides just as much as I do, don't you?" he teased affectionately, as he scratched the white star between the stallion's eyes.

Deheum snorted and tossed his head while Keith tied his reins loosely to a nearby branch. Accepting his master's praise as his due, the stallion arched his dark head proudly and shook his forelock out of his eyes before bending down to examine the grass.

Arranging his sword to make sure he wouldn't stab himself in the foot with it, Keith settled down on the ground, surveying his surroundings. From his vantage point, He could see far over the countryside, across the glittering lake that surrounded the castle and the fields that spread out in a patchwork of darkness and life.

The castle rose up majestically on its own hill to the west, its fortified towers glimmering, the silver tinged into the pale pink of a budding rose by the promise of a dawning sun. In the distance, it looked like a faerie castle of legend.

But Keith knew well enough how real it was and how intrusive the reality it symbolized could be. The Castle was more than just the home of the ruler of Arus, it was the embodiment of the hopes and dreams of an entire planet.

He shifted uneasily in his seat, uncomfortable with the realization that like the castle, he and the other members of the Voltron Force were symbols as well. After all, as Allura had said, they brought hope to people who lived in the shadow of oppression.

Keith drew in a deep breath and released it in a huff. Being a leader was nothing new to him, but being a ruler was something different altogether. Although he had served as Captain of the Voltron Force for almost four years, he had never felt a responsibility as heavy as the one he felt now: the weight of the dreams of ten million Arussians.

Keith bent his head and prayed that he wouldn't let them down.

Minutes passed in a silence punctuated by the sound of a few birds twittering. Keith soon noticed that the wind was sighing in the trees and he could hear the leaves rustle in response. He began to hear voices too, faint but still noticeable, floating up from the villages far below.

An extraordinary blanket of calm drifted over him, the lovely sense of peace and well-being that he always associated with meditation and contemplation, which were as necessary and as essential to him as breathing.

The sun was warm against his cheeks but the soft whisper of a breeze cooled the air. Keith drifted for a time, safe and secure, before he became aware of something insistent pulling at him through the warm haze, something that he could no more resist than he not breathe. He slowly opened his eyes, helpless to do anything but obey the silent call that sounded as though it had been shouted.

Before him stood a figure shrouded and hooded in a coarse brown cloak.

 **"Aren't you going to give me a kiss hello, darling?" Haggar greeted Keith with a malicious smile. With one graceful toss of her head, she threw off the concealing hood of her coarse brown cloak and allowed the gilt waterfall of her unbound hair to fall over her shoulders.**

Revulsion crossed Keith's face as he looked at the woman who occupied his wife's body. "You aren't my wife, old witch," he said in a low voice that trembled with the force of his emotions. "You have possessed her body, but we humans are more than our bodies."

"Oh please. Spare me." Haggar snorted. "The body, mind and heart intertwined," she repeated in a mocking singsong. "I am, or rather was, a Daughter of Cador, you know, and I have heard enough mewing sentiment to last me several lifetimes."

"Do not discount their power, old witch." Keith kept his eyes focused on the witch even as his hand moved to the communicator in his pocket to sound an alert to summon the lions. "We cannot see nor touch our emotions, but they can influence us, nonetheless."

"You have been talking to Orla," Haggar scoffed. She shook her head with disgust. "I hear traces of her lofty ideals in your words. Such a pity. I HAD thought more of you, Captain. Now I see that you are just as weak as the rest of them."

"Really? If I am as weak as you say I am, why didn't you kill me immediately?" Keith challenged Haggar with a derisive quirk of a dark eyebrow. "To be perfectly honest, old witch, I don't think you can."

"What makes you think that?" Haggar purred. A seductive smile slithered across the witch's face as she lifted her hand and, in a surprisingly gently caress, smoothed back an unruly lock of dark hair from Keith's face.

"You could have taken advantage of our surprise when we met last and killed us with a ro-beast, but you didn't," Keith said stoically, watching as the smile on Haggar's face faded into its familiar cold menace. "And I think that you couldn't — because the part of Allura in you wouldn't let you."

Acknowledging his point with a curt nod of her head, the witch hesitated before speaking. "You are... were ... special to Allura. Your princess struggled valiantly, but all her efforts were useless. Your death will mark the final destruction of everything that she was and every that she was to be."

Keith's throat was clenched with a fear that constricted his entire chest making it difficult to draw breath but he met Haggar's eyes with a confidence that he was far from feeling. "You won't kill me. You can't."

Haggar's face twisted with anger at his arrogance. "Oh, I can't can I?" She asked even as she lifted her staff. Her hair whipped around her body as a wind responded to her command. "How dare you presume such things of me!"

The earth exploded beneath Keith's feet and he fought to keep his balance. Rocks shattered and flew through the air, causing Deuheum, normally a well behaved mount, to rear and pull away from his bindings and race for safety.

The ground heaved and moved, forcing Keith onto his knees. He looked into Haggar's eyes and appealed — to the little part of the Princess he knew still existed within Haggar's mind — and not to the witch. "Allura, fight her. Don't let her do this."

Something flickered deep inside Haggar's golden eyes and he thought for one breathless moment that he might actually have gotten through. An awareness. A fear. Allura herself. Then, the moment passed and the doubt that he thought he had seen in the golden eyes disappeared.

"Allura, it's me, Keith. Listen to my voice," he commanded, trying to reach his wife one last time, even as the invisible hands of Haggar's power fastened around his arms and legs. "You can do it, Princess. Come on, fight her."

Magical bonds tightened and whirled him through the air, looking like, for all intents and purposes, like a nestling testing his wings for the first time. But like all nestlings, Keith's flight was short. It came to an abrupt end as Haggar threw him against the thick trunk of a sturdy tree.


	43. Chapter 42

His face set into a mask of grim concentration, Lance held his breath and tried to ignore the sickening lurch of his stomach as the pilot's pod he was in shot down the near frictionless surface of the lion chute at an incredible speed.

Despite all the reassurance given by Coran and all the explanations offered by Pidge, he eyed the lion chute with habitual trepidation, half-expecting the transparent walls to crack open under the pressure and heat created by the hundred thousand or so tons of lava that swirled in the crater of the extant volcano where the Red Lion rested.

He couldn't count the number of times he had boarded his lion in the years he had been stationed in Arus, but he had still heaved a silent sigh of relief whenever the wild ride came to an abrupt end, as the pod was caught and held fast by the electromagnetic grapplers.

Propelling the pod on silent servos, the grapplers whisked the pod along and positioned it in the cockpit. Lance felt the solid metal of his seat tremble and shake gently as another powerful electromagnet locked it into place.

All in all, the entire process of loading took 47.32 seconds, a short time that seemed like an eternity. But despite the impatience and concern that seethed within him, Lance's movements were un-rushed and deliberate, testimony that years of flight training at the Academy — and one or two crashes — had taught him that launch preparations should not be hurried.

Lance urged the Red Lion out of its den as soon as he got the go-ahead signal from the ship's onboard computer. Setting the lion's air speed to its maximum velocity, he homed in on the signal sent by Keith's communicator.

He didn't need to glance at the external monitors to know that the other lions were hot on his tail. Years of training together — and thousands of aerial combats fought side by side — had fused the team into a cohesive whole.

They acted as one, each adjusting to the actions of the others. Unnecessary words were left unspoken. For once, the comm channel was quiet, free from the friendly banter and teasing that normally filled it.

But while their pilots were silent, the lions were not. Majestic in their rage and fury, their roars and growls echoed across the hills and plains of Arus long after the steaks of color that they created disappeared across the horizon.

It seemed, Lance mused, as though the lions could sense the emotions of their pilots and respond accordingly. After all, they were created with a magic that no one, except possibly Orla could understand.

Keith stifled a moan of pain. While he didn't believe that he had broken any ribs in his furious collision with the tree, he was certain that the tissue around the area of impact was badly bruised. He was having trouble catching his breath. Taking in more than a sip of air was absolute agony.

A thin stream of blood — the effect of a slender jagged gash on his temple — trickled down Keith's cheek and mixed with his tears as he wondered, with a degree of calm detachment that amazed him, if he would pass out from his injuries.

But he didn't. Although dizzy and disoriented, he stayed awake while Haggar took him by the hair and yanked him upright. His efforts to twist free were futile as Haggar wrapped her fingers around his neck with an almost inhuman strength.

"I could — should — kill you with magic," the witch muttered hoarsely. Her eyes, though little more than slits, promised dire vengeance, as did her tone, low and matter-of-fact. "But killing you with my bare hands will make your death much more personal, don't you think?"

Keith tried to answer, but he couldn't. His voice was drowned out by the roaring in his ears, much like the sound of angry waves battering the shore during a storm. With a terrible sort of certainty, he knew that unless he did something, he would soon be unconscious and utterly helpless.

Resignation replaced fear and Keith felt a bitter regret for all that should have and all that could have been. His princess was still alive, but she was a prisoner within her own mind, helpless to stop Haggar.

He looked up into Haggar's golden eyes one last time, searching for the elusive spark of life that he recognized as his wife and managed to twist his lips into a bittersweet smile that wavered and faltered as his strength faded.

Lance hunched forward on the pilot seat of the Red Lion and scanning the area through the high-powered monitoring systems. Though his attention was divided, he worked the controls of his ship with the skill and accuracy that had earned him a place on the Voltron Force. He directed his voice towards the miniscule microphone that linked him to the rest of the team. "Pidge, have you been able to raise Keith yet?"

"Not yet," Pidge responded, white-gloved hands dancing on his console. This electrical field generated by storm is fouling up our communications equipment, and since Keith brought with him an all-purpose transmitter..."

"The static electricity is going to garble the emissions from his communicator," Lance finished with a worried sigh. "Damn. I knew I should have reminded him to bring the heavy-duty one... Pidge, I think you should spend some time going over the designs so we don't have this problem next time."

"If there is a next time," Hunk muttered in dire tones as he casting an uneasy look at the rapidly darkening sky. "From the looks of this storm, Haggar's not holding anything back. According to my sensors, the wind speed increased by at least twenty-seven percent in the last five minutes."

"She's getting careless." Sven observed. "She should have known better than to summon up a storm like this. We can use the noise of the storm to cover the sound of our approach if we reduce our air speed and muffle our engines."

"Look sharp then," Lance ordered, tightening his grip on the control yoke of his lion. "The woman out there may look like Allura, but she's not the princess. Don't pull your punches. She's out to cause some major damage."

"But what if Queen Orla was wrong Lance?' Pidge asked plaintively. "Can't we fire warning shots first? It might be the Princess out there and you know that she wouldn't do anything to hurt us."

"We can't afford to take that chance," Sven said bluntly. "We have to assume that's Haggar out there, not the Princess. We have to be extra careful. Remember what Orla told us. Now that she's satisfied with Allura's body, Haggar needs to cut the Princess' ties to the outside world."

"That's what Keith tried to do." Lance said, his voice ringing with a forced confidence, audible even to his own ears. "We all know how much Allura loves him. He's our best chance at reaching her.. And if he couldn't... if Haggar hurt him... well, you remember what Orla said... we have to accept that Allura's... gone."


	44. Chapter 43

Malicious glee shone in Haggar's golden eyes as she tightened her fingers around Keith's neck. Enjoying her power and his vulnerability, she watched him twist his head from side to side, trying to catch his breath.

"Fool," she taunted him as she had taunted so many others in the past. "Who are you to think that you could defeat me? I am Haggar. Do you actually think that you had a chance against my magic?"

She expected him spit defiance at her, or plead and grovel, as so many others had in the past, but Keith's reaction was surprising. He seemed unaware of the fact that she was slowly choking the life from him. Instead, he regarded her stoically, his dark eyes filled with something that she couldn't really identify.

For the first time in more years than she could remember, Haggar fought the chaotic emotions — happiness, remorse, joy and guilt — that flared up within her. A single tear trailed down her cheek as she remembered how it felt like to love.

Slowly unclasping her hands, Haggar stepped back and let Keith's body sag onto the ground. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she knelt down and reached out a hand in a tentative caress. "You were a worthy opponent, as was your Princess."

 **"Fuck," Lance swore savagely as the squad of four lions established visual contact a few moments later. "We're too late." Anger etched his face into grim lines and lent a harsh edge to his voice. "I'm going to make her pay for this."**

Lance tightened his hands on his control yokes and launched his lion into action. A glance at the signatures and targeting information displayed on one of his peripheral displays told him that the other lions had joined him in the attack as well.

 **Keith wasn't sure exactly what had awakened him — the thunderous growling that rumbled in the air or the force of the explosions that shook the ground upon which he lay. His reinforcements, the four lions, had arrived.**

Keith spared a moment to watch the lions tear through the pale sky, savagely beautiful in their fury while he tried to gather his wits around him. A shower of soil and pebbles, torn up from their forested battleground rained down upon him and prompted him into action.

A distraction would be a good idea, he decided as he groggily got to his feet. He reached for the hilt of his sword, half-expecting to find the scabbard empty, and breathed a silent prayer as he found his sword in its place.

"I'm sorry Ally," he whispered, drawing his sword in one hand and his blaster in the other. "Please forgive me." Holding his breath, he aimed carefully and fired a high-intensity burst of energy at the witch's back.

His shot fizzled and bounced off a shimmering shield that sparkled and glowed in the watery sunlight. Haggar turned around, madness shining in her golden eyes. "Darling! I'm glad you're awake. Now you can watch your friends die."

"I'll see you dead first."

"Have it your way then," Haggar said, diving at Keith gleefully. Her staff metamorphosized and changed from one moment to the next, first a sinuous snake that hissed and spat at him, then a shimmering blade of steel that whistled through the air, aiming for his heart.

Keith's body reacted before he had time for coherent thought. The flawless reflexes trained into his muscles and sinews responded, allowing him to catch Haggar's blade, desperately jerking his sword arm up in time to protect his chest.

Emotions and misgivings were pushed aside as he grimly accepted what he had feared had come to pass. "I'm sorry, Ally," he breathed, once again, wishing with all his heart that it didn't have to end this way.

 **Lance peered through the scopes of his weapons system, frantically praying for a clear shot. It was difficult shot for him, an impossible one shot for almost anyone else: the weapons of the lions were not designed for the pinpoint accuracy of small weapons fire.**

The closeness of the two combatants was another complication. Both Keith and the witch were moving at a blurring speed, their blades clashing and slithering; the graceful elegant metal lethal in the hands of two accomplished swordsmen.

Keith and Allura had always been evenly matched, even in happier times. The captain had been trained in the art of warfare at the Academy, the princess by the best swordsmen Arus had to offer.

But Haggar's fury added something new to the equation. Anger and hate infused new energy in the witch and galvanized her to take the offensive. Although visibly hurt and tired, Keith was defending himself like a fiend, parrying her attacks to the best of his ability, giving ground slowly, until he could retreat no more.

 **Holding his ground, Keith waited unflinching, for Haggar's lunge, knowing the closer he let the sword point get to his body, the stronger his parry would be. Confidence and steadiness were required. He couldn't shrink or draw back even a little. Everything depended on timing, speed and lack of hesitation.**

"You're ... dead ... Darling," Haggar puffed, her golden eyes glittering, her earlier moment of humanity forgotten in her bloodlust and the promised exhilaration of impending victory.

Keith's sword whipped up to parry as Haggar's forward movement drove her sword directly at his heart. In a single flashing moment, Keith's blade ran across Haggar's right up to the point, and as it parted from it, he swung his blade up and over, turned his wrist, extended his arm and drove his point towards Haggar's chest.

Her head tilted up and Haggar gazed up at him, with wide and glassy eyes. Her expression was frozen into an almost comical mixture of fear and surprise. Her lips moved and formed soundless words. A low moan rattled in the back of her throat.

They stood close to each other, almost like the lovers that they never had been. The wind built in intensity, whistling around them, conspiring to wrap the full skirts of Haggar's robes around Keith's ankles.

The witch's head dropped and lolled to the side as she fell into Keith's arms in an eerie slow motion. "Damn you," she whispered, managing to find the strength for a final curse. "You did what no one else had the courage to do."


	45. Chapter 44

Allura felt strange. It was as though she was floating in a sea where there was no form or substance, only a vastness of empty dark space. It was a peaceful place and she was content to drift through the layers of nothingness until she heard a voice.

"Ally? Can you hear me?"

She could barely hear it. The voice was faint and indistinct but she instinctively responded to its call.

"Damn it Allura! I know you can hear me. Open your eyes."

She found that with great effort, she could begin to rise upward through the darkness. Hanging on to the sound of the voice, she slowly pulled herself away from the restful void into a world of pain and sensation

Allura's eyes opened, clouded and glazed with pain. She looked up at him, unable to see him clearly, but she heard the rough sound he made when he saw her eyes open. "Keith?" She whispered with difficulty.

"Hey Sunshine. Haven't seen you for a while. Don't leave me just yet, okay? I need you to stay with me a little while longer," he said unsteadily, noticing the steady trickle of blood that emerged from her mouth when she talked.

Laying a trembling hand on her cheek, he gently wiped the blood away. "Dr. Gorma's on his way here. He'll make you better, I promise." Keith's voice was filled with quiet desperation and he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

Allura paused to gather her strength. "She's still here... inside me... trying to take me with her..."

"You won't let her, right? You're too stubborn for that." Keith said, trying to keep the panic from his voice. Allura was so pale; she seemed almost translucent. Her lips had taken on a bluish cast and her breathing was irregular, marked by shallow shuddering gasps.

"Try... if... can..." Allura said. "She's ... strong... pulling me... with her..."

He froze as her voice trailed off and her eyes closed again. "Damn it Allura, if ever it was there was a time for you to be stubborn, it's now. Don't let her take you." He said each word forcefully, deliberately, willing his strength into her.

"My study was a mess the last time you saw it, right? Well, it's gotten worse since you've been gone. No one has been brave enough to go in and clean it." Suppressed tears turned his voice into a tormented whisper.

"You'll be fine, hon," Keith crooned, unable to consider any other alternative. He brushed the hair tenderly away from his wife's temple. "It'll be all right. I'll take care of you. I promise I will." He continued to whisper encouragement and reassurance while his mind whirled frantically, recognizing the gravity of her injuries.

The sickening sweet scent of blood was overwhelming. Pulling away slightly, he searched for its source, hoping that it would be possible for him to stem the injury. But despite his desperate efforts, the lethal pulsing couldn't be seen.

She was cold, in shock, he realized, tenderly tracing the tender rise of his wife's cheekbone and the arch of her brow, with a hand that continued to shake. She needed to be warm, he thought frantically as he cradled her body close.

The seconds flowed into a continuous stream as he searched the skies, waiting for help to come.

Rool Gorma was a living legend. Not only was he a highly trained professional, well versed in the latest techniques that science had to offer, he was also the last in a long line of healers and wise men and because of him, the skill of the Arussian healers was widely regarded as second only to those of the Planet Ebb.

His high standards — for himself and the rest of his medical team — were famous throughout the Diamond Galaxy. A doctor must project confidence to instill it, he often lectured his students in the course of their training. Never comment or express fear and doubt.

Urging the Prince Consort to gently lay the princess onto the waiting hoverbed, he examined her carefully while his assistants maneuvered the hover-bed into the waiting med-craft. "Chest wound. Internal bleeding. Pulse is faint."

Realizing that she wasn't breathing, the doctor swore silently under his breath and bent down to begin mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. "Talk to her, Keith," he ordered as he paused for breath, sparing a moment to look at the man hovering behind him. "She needs to hear your voice."

Swallowing convulsively against his panic, Keith nodded and took his place beside Allura. "Hey Princess Mine," he whispered, touching her pale cheek and caressing her golden curls. "You're doing great."

"That's it, Captain." Gorma urged, heaving a sigh of relief as he felt under his fingertips the slight tension that told him that the Princess was again breathing on her own. He reached for Allura's wrist. He confirmed his observations by checking the monitors that displayed the princess' vital signs. "Keep talking to her. She's listening to you. Her pulse suddenly got much stronger."

Keith moved even closer, pressing his warm lips against his wife's cool temple. "I love you, Princess," he whispered in a voice so low that only she could hear it. "You have to come back to me so that I can tell you just how much."

And as he bent down to touch his lips to hers, he felt the soft curve of her answering smile.


	46. Chapter 45

Nanny watched the desperation on Keith's face as he sat with his head in his hands. He hadn't moved for almost three hours, she realized, ever since Allura had disappeared behind the silvery metal walls of the Operating Room.

As still as a statue, as quiet as death. What was he thinking, she wondered, noting the desperation on his face. It was impossible to tell. He needed to conserve his strength and rest but she doubted that he would allow himself the luxury of an escape into sleep.

She ignored the creaking of her joints as she got up, stretched her legs and shook her skirts out. She approached Keith cautiously. Coran had tried speaking to him earlier, but if Keith had heard, he hadn't responded. Perhaps the Prince Regent would listen to her.

"Come, Your Highness," Nanny ordered him gruffly, urging him up onto his feet with gentle hands. "We must get those ... stains... off your clothes. Your appearance would surely alarm the Princess were she to see you as you are now."

"Use this to wipe your face and your hands," she directed, scolding him lightly as she pressed a clean towel dampened with hydrogen peroxide into his hands. "Please, Your Highness," Nanny repeated once again, a little louder this time, when Keith did not respond.

"Why are you doing this, Nanny?" Keith asked, in a voice that sounded as though it came from the grave. "Shouldn't you be locking me into the dungeon or something? After all, if it hadn't been for me, Allura —-"

"Allura would have been dead," Nanny said crisply, cutting him off before he lapsed into a spasm of guilt. Taking the towel from his hands, she went up on tiptoe and wiped away the bloodstains herself, treating him as though he were a child in her care.

"What you did was difficult, but it was necessary," she explained, her tone matter-of-fact and businesslike. "Here," she instructed him handing him another towel and directing him to take a seat in front of her. "You must clean your hands or your wounds will become infected."

Busying herself with the simple task of folding the bloodied towel and setting it aside, Nanny continued speaking. "Orla would not have asked it of you otherwise. When Allura's body died, Haggar died along with it."

Clucking with disapproval at the scratches and wounds on Keith's face, Nanny called out to a passing nurse to bring cotton and antiseptic. "But Allura held on because of you. When you asked her to stay, you were invoking the power of the bond that tied her to you and to Arus."

"I don't think it was the bond," Keith muttered, a tentative smile ghosting across his face. "My guess is that it was more like plain stubborn bullheadedness. You know how Ally is... When she makes up her mind to do something, nothing we can say or do will ever change it..."

"Like flying the Blue Lion?" Nanny asked, shaking her head with at the memory. She continued dabbing at the scratches on Keith's face with a cotton ball drenched in an antiseptic solution. "In retrospect, I do not know why we were surprised."

"I should have expected her to do something like that... Allura was always a handful, even as a little girl. If your children will be like anything like her, I am sure that my hair will be white in no time at all." Pausing a moment, Nanny saw that her chatter was helping the Prince Regent relax.

"Oh, the stories I could tell you!" Nanny exclaimed. "For instance, did anyone ever tell you how the Princess was the despair of her tutors? If I remember correctly, she went through nine of them, before she turned six years old."

"Why?" Keith asked curiously. "I doubt it's because of a lack of intelligence. I mean, look at the way Allura picks up things! How many alien languages does she speak? She may not act it at times - she's impulsive and all - but she's smarter and sharper than most of the people I know."

"Hold still!" Nanny reproached Keith when he jerked away, wincing at the pain from the cool, sharp sting. Holding his chin between her forefinger and her thumb, she continued dabbing medicine onto his wounds. "Precisely. Just ask Coran – her tutors found it... disconcerting, to say the very least... to lose intellectual debates to a six-year old and..."

Her voice broke and betrayed her artificially cheerful front, but Nanny recovered quickly, mopping at her eyes and steadying her voice. "Keith, we all love her, you know. And I know how worried you are, how worried we all are, but... it's so much harder to wait alone."

"Nanny..." Keith said, swallowing down the wad of emotion that lodged in his throat. He didn't have the words to express how he felt, so he simply leaned against her and let himself be held in a maternal embrace.

"It will be all right, Keith," she comforted him in a soft whisper, stroking his dark hair with a gentle hand. "Everything will be all right, you will see..."Her voice trailed off into silence as she saw the door to the Operating Room open.

Sensing the sudden tension in Nanny's frame, Keith lifted his head, just as Dr. Gorma stepped out of the sterile suite, still clothed in surgical scrubs. Getting to his feet, he drew himself up to his full height,

"The Princess is out of surgery, Your Highness. The nurses have already gotten her settled into a room. Barring any complications, her chances are good," Gorma reported, his voice brisk and businesslike.

"I... Thank you," Keith whispered. He looked around at the occupants of the room, Nanny, Coran, the other members of the Voltron Force and Allura's pet space mice. "And I think that we all share the same sentiment."

Gorma acknowledged Keith's gratitude with a tired smile. "I administered a general anesthetic to induce sedation for the surgery and to manage the pain afterwards. So, do not expect her to wake just yet, Right now, she needs to rest until her body recovers. We will reduce the anesthetic once we are satisfied with her progress,"

"You saved her life," Keith breathed, his voice trembling with the intensity of his emotions.

"I only did what I had the power to do," Gorma shook his head dismissively. "But I wouldn't have been able to do it without you, Your Highness. For all intents and purposes, when I got there, the princess was gone. She wasn't breathing and her heart wasn't beating. But she rallied when she heard your voice."

Bowing his head, Keith closed his eyes and sighed heavily, but when he looked up again, everyone in the room noted the drastic change in his demeanor. A load seemed to lift from the Keith's shoulders and he looked years younger.

"Can I see her?" Keith asked.

"Of course." Gorma nodded. "But first, let me explain something. Although the Princess is still unconscious, I believe, that she can sense the emotions of the people around her. Highness, she needs you to be strong now. Your courage and confidence will give her the strength she needs to get well."

Despite his promise to Gorma, Keith's determined stride faltered as he entered Allura's room. The room was still despite the beeping of her heart monitor and the faint hiss of the oxygen tank set up around the bed.

He approached her bed slowly, dreading what he would see there. There were tubes everywhere, but he could see her face clearly. Although she was still pale, the horrifying translucency he had seen on earlier was gone. Her hair was spread over the pillow, framing her face.

He lowered himself to a chair next to her bed as his eyes ranged over her. Without thinking, he moved to smooth the hair back from her face. His fingers brushed against the intrusive plastic tubing that filled her lungs with oxygen before resting against her cheek.

Save for the rise and fall of her chest, Allura was absolutely still. Motionless. Her sooty lashes, the tiny fans that danced and fluttered with life, hid everything now, aflicker with neither nightmares, laughter nor dreams.

"Hey Sunshine," Keith greeted her as he reached for Allura's left hand and cradled it tenderly between his own. "Gorma says that you're doing great and that you should wake up by this time tomorrow... I know it's selfish of me, but I wish you could wake up sooner."

His questing fingers traced the outline of the wedding ring he had given her. "There are so many things that I want to tell you, things that I NEED to tell you, but I want you to be awake when I tell them to you."

He groped for things to say, his sleep-starved emotions raw and ravaged. He told her about how the harvest was going to be a bountiful one and how the villagers were making plans on how to preserve what they could for times of need.

But, remembering how Allura had shone most brightly when she was needed, he also told her about how the last attack had leveled homes in some villages and how many more children had become orphans because of Zarkon and Haggar.

"I need you, Al," Keith admitted. "I know I'm trained to lead, but this is something I can't handle on my own. I'm a soldier, not an economist nor a diplomat. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to increase the GDP or the per capita income, or which industries to give economic incentives to... You've got to wake up and come back to me. I can't do this without you."


	47. Chapter 46

"Hey Princess, I come bearing gifts," Lance sang out as he clattered into Allura's room. "Okay, they're not from me, they're from the school children in Onoia, "he said, naming a village near the Castle, "but I get some brownie points for bringing them in, right?"

He set the huge arrangement of flowers down on a table near the bed. "The kids remembered how pretty you found the garden in the schoolyard so each of them chose a flower for you. They smell good, don't they?"

"We weren't quite sure that we could bring them in. Gorma was worrying about how you might react to the pollen, since you needed a little help breathing last night. But since you're doing so much better this morning, he decided to give you a break and allow us to bring in your flowers."

Lance glanced at the bouquet critically and snapped off a couple of dead leaves. "Keith left the final decision to Gorma, you see, but of course, the skipper made his wishes clear. He reminded everyone of how you hated the antiseptic smell of hospital rooms."

He sank down onto a chair next to the bed. "Of course, that was all the prompting that Nanny needed. She sniffed and said that HE was probably the only thing you were smelling, considering how he hadn't taken a bath in a while and ordered him back to quarters to shower and change his clothes."

A devilish grin crossed Lance's face as he launched into an impressive imitation of Nanny's thick burr. "Ack! 'Tis not worthy to be a Prince, you are. Look at you! Your clothes are all rumpled and creased and you smell like you have not been touched by water in almost a week."

"It was quite an interesting sight," Lance laughed, "I wouldn't have thought it possible, but Keith's backbone collapsed before the force of Hurricane Nanny. She had him meekly marching off to your quarters to change with few bursts of wind."

"So you'll have to bear with me for a while. Keith refused to budge unless one of us kept you company... He didn't want you to wake up and find yourself alone." Lance continued, moving his chair closer to the bed and looking down upon the princess' still form.

He could almost believe that she was sleeping, but the fragility in the stillness of her form reminded him otherwise. He reached out and took her hand. He was shocked by how lifeless it felt and suddenly understood why Keith made him promise to stay with her.

He had the feeling that if he glanced away, she might lose her frail grip on the the world. He held her hand tighter to prevent that from happening. He cleared his throat and continued to speak, striving for an atmosphere of flippant normalcy.

"There's crowd of people outside the Castle asking about you. Coran has been giving them updates on your condition, but it's not satisfying them. Pidge says that they're demanding to hear from Keith, but none of us want us to let them see him."

"It's not that he looks bad. From the outside, he looks the same way that he always had, but if you manage to see the expression on his eyes, you'll see that he looks like shit." Lance flinched guiltily, half expecting Allura to sit up and start scolding him. "Sorry, I know you don't like it when we swear, but I couldn't think of a better way to describe it."

"He's exhausted, Princess. Now, you know that he doesn't need much sleep, but I think he hasn't really slept since you disappeared. He loves you so much. You need to wake up for his sake, because without you, he's been going through the motions, but it's as though he's not really there."

"If you go Al, he's going to follow you. So you have to stay with us for his sake. " Lance paused, desperately hoping for a response, but there was none. If it hadn't been for the barely perceptible rise and fall of her chest, he wouldn't have believed that Allura was just sleeping.

"Do you think she hears us?"

Lance started at the sound of Keith's voice and turned to face him. Although the Captain had showered and changed his clothes, it was obvious that he hadn't taken the time to shave. His haggard face was covered with stubble.

"I don't know, but I'd like to think so," Lance said as he stood up and let go of Allura's hand, yielding his place beside the princess to the man whose rightful place it was.

Keith approached the bed and stood over it. His expression as he looked at his wife was a mixture of tenderness and despair. The oxygen tubes were gone now and Allura was breathing normally on her own, but to his worried eyes, she still looked wan and pale.

"Gorma says she can hear us," Keith said softly, reaching out to stroke a lock of golden hair away from his wife's forehead, noticing how the silky strands wrapped around his fingers and seemed to cling to them.

They kept vigil in silence for a while before Keith lifted his eyes to Lance's. "She still hasn't woken up. Although Gorma says it should be anytime now." He sighed heavily, "She'd better. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't."

Lance glanced away. He couldn't bear to meet Keith's eyes — the pain in them was too intense, too private for another to see. He couldn't think of anything to say, so he reached out and grasped his friend's shoulder, offering silent support.

Allura awakened slowly. The air around her seemed too thick to breathe and there was a wooshing sound in her head that reminded her of waves lapping gently against the lakeshore. She opened her eyes and found herself in a dimly lit hospital room, filled with the sound of soft music.

"Hi there, Sunshine," Keith greeted her, watching her struggle for consciousness. The small hand he held in his own flexed once, then lay still again. "Come, on Ally, don't go back just yet. It's been a while since I saw those pretty blue eyes."

She was still pale, he though, much too pale, but she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her sooty lashes flickered once again before her eyes opened. Holding his breath, he waited for them to focus.

"Keith?" she ventured.

Her voice sounded hollow and lifeless, but Keith's dark eyes warmed with pleasure and relief nonetheless. He watched, captivated, as the familiar sparkle returned to her crystal blue eyes. He kissed the slender fingers in the hand he held and smiled at her tenderly. "Yeah, Sunshine, it's me. I'm right here."

"I had a bad dream," she whispered weakly, her eyes closing once again.

"It's over now. You're here with me. I'll take care of you, I promise," he said huskily, as he bent down over her. He wanted to tell her so many things, but all he could manage was a husky question. "How do you feel?'

"Tired... Achy," Allura tentatively reached out and traced the line of his jaw with a slender finger. The unfamiliar sandpaper feel of the stubble on his cheeks and chin caused a small confused frown to form on her face.

"Gorma fixed you all up. You just need to get some more rest now," he said shakily.

"Can't sleep... The nightmares will come back..." Allura shook her head and confessed in a broken whisper. "Stay with me, please?" she asked, her voice a thready whisper laced with remembered terror. "Like you did before?"

"Of course," Keith agreed, grateful for the chance to hold her once again. "Go to sleep, Sunshine, I'll keep the nightmares away." Rising from his chair, he lay down beside her on the bed, carefully avoiding all the tubes connecting her to the monitors around her bed.

He felt her sigh and relax into him as he held her. He sank back against the pillows, the tension draining from him as he felt the warmth of her body beside him. Smiling contentedly, he pressed a kiss onto her honey-blonde head and drifted to sleep.


	48. Chapter 47

Rool Gorma was the product of two worlds. He was a scientist trained in the best and latest techniques that science had to offer and he was also the descendant of a long line of native Arussian healers and wise men.

His unique approach to healing blended the modern and the traditional into a unified, cohesive force. He was a firm believer in science but he was also knew that there were things that he would never understand.

Though we are physical beings, never forget that we are more their bodies, he often lectured his students. Not only do we have minds, we have minds, hearts and souls. Learn to harness their power to accelerate the healing process.

The decor of medical wing of the Castle of Lions mirrored Gorma's holistic philosophy. The rooms and suites in his little fiefdom were decorated in warm, peaceful colors that the doctor hoped would bring peace to the often-fragile minds and hearts of his patients.

Exchanging greetings with his staff as he made his way to the Royal Suite, Gorma knocked and waited to be admitted before entering the room. As he had expected, sunlight streamed through the sparkling windows of the room, filling the room with brilliant warmth.

Soothing music played softly in the background, the melodious notes mixing in with the heady scents of the flowers arranged in clusters around the bed where Allura sat, her frilly pink nightgown a splash of color against the pale cream bedcovers.

The doctor bit back a smile as the barely disguised exasperation on the Princess' face as the Prime Minister and the Princess' former Nanny surrounded the bed, hovering about her like the clucking mother hens she often likened them to.

"Your Highness," Gorma greeted them with a quick bow. "Nanny. Coran."

Allura returned his greeting with a gamine smile that took him back years. For a brief instant, she looked like the sprite who had ruled her nursery with her unique brand of winsome charm and Gorma couldn't resist the urge to chuck her under her chin.

The princess responded accordingly, the doctor's simple gesture bringing to mind half-forgotten memories of a childhood ritual. She leaned back against her pillows, closed her eyes, opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue.

"I should have known better." Gorma chuckled as he rooted around in the deep pockets of his white laboratory coat for one of the candies he always had on hand for his younger patients. He discovered a small piece of taffy, which he unwrapped and gingerly popped into the princess' mouth.

Delight shone in the Princess' eyes as she enjoyed the simple pleasure of chewing on her sweet. "Your taffy is as good as I remember it to be, Doctor. You used to give this to me whenever I got better after being sick."

"I'll reserve judgment on that," Gorma replied noncommittally. "I suppose you're feeling better then?" he asked as he pressed a button on a wall-mounted control-panel. The servomechanism hummed in response and the walls opened, revealing the state-of-the-art equipment that were the medical profession's stock-in-trade.

"Much better, thank you," Allura laughed. "I actually manage to stay awake now, you know." It had been almost a week since she had regained consciousness and she had spent the time since then sleeping and gathering her strength.

She cast a wistful glance at the sunlit gardens and shot the doctor a pleading smile. "And since I feel so much stronger now, perhaps you could see to my release? It's not that I don't appreciate everyone's care for me but being cooped up like this makes me cranky and irritable."

"So I've heard from the nurses," Gorma teased. He could easily imagine how Allura felt. Never one to sit still, he was a horrible patient himself. He understood why Allura chafed at the inactivity now that she felt stronger.

"That's why I asked Nanny and Coran to stay with you," he continued as he performed his examination. "You might get bored enough to go wandering, like you did when you were younger. We all still remember how you used to disappear from your bed to play hide-and-seek with the space mice.

Allura flushed guiltily and opened her mouth to defend herself, but any possible rejoinder she could have made was interrupted by the Prime Minister's wry voice as he waded into arena with his verbal fists raised.

"I doubt you will be able to cure our Princess of her need to wander, Rool. She continually does it, even though she has been explicitly told not to do so." Coran shook his head in exasperation. "I'm sure that you've heard the story of how she took the blue lion out without permission"

"But you have to admit though, it was a great first flight," a new voice broke into the conversation. "Much better than mine, in fact. I don't know how the Princess did it, but she managed to take the lion into the air AND land it safely too... before fainting, of course."

Gorma couldn't help but smile as he watched Allura glow with pleasure at the praise but his smile faded at the sight of Keith. Despite the seeming nonchalant expression on Keith's face, Gorma could sense that there was something weighing heavily on the Prince Consort's mind.

He shrugged off his strange sense of discomfort, dismissing it as ridiculous. From what he could gather from the hospital grapevine, Keith — together with Nanny and Coran — rarely left Allura's side since she awakened.

The strange triumvirate spent hours at the Princess's bedside, reading to her, teasing her and even watching over her while she slept. The results of their devotion were painfully obvious, even to Gorma's critical eye. Although the fact she couldn't remember anything since Haggar's appearance in Castle Control was cause for concern, Allura's recovery was remarkable.

Allura's return had changed the lives of those who surrounded her as well. Coran seemed healthier and more robust; Nanny less intense. But as for Keith... Gorma paused a moment as he studied the Prince Consort surreptitiously.

Although he was the physician of record to the Voltron Force, he had only a passing acquaintance with the Prince Consort and the other members of the Force. His duties to the people of Arus began when theirs had ended and, unless their paths crossed by chance, he only saw the Voltron Force when they were in need of medical attention.

"They're perfect together, aren't they?" Nanny's soft whisper startled the doctor out of his reverie. "Like two halves to a whole." She dabbed at her eyes with a corner of her ever-present apron. "Juliana would have been pleased. Keith is everything she had hoped for and more."

Gorma hid his reservations with a diplomatic grunt. Perhaps the two young people just needed some privacy to work out their feelings, he decided. God knows that they'll never get it with Nanny and Coran hovering around them like two old crows.

He decided that it was time to play matchmaker. After all, it was the least he could do. Bowing slightly, Gorma turned to Coran and gestured theatrically towards the door. "Perhaps you and Nanny would like to join me in my study."

"I have new blend of tea, made from herbs that grow on the slopes of the Polani mountains. Perhaps you have heard of it? It's supposed to a folk remedy for arthritis, you know." Gorma continued.

The reluctance on the two faces before him was almost comical. Neither Nanny nor Coran seemed inclined to accept his invitation, so Gorma decided to take matters into his own hands. With an unrepentant grin, the doctor shepherded his guests out of the room and allowed the vanadium doors to close behind their retreating backs.


	49. Chapter 48

"There's breakfast here, if you'd like to have something to eat or to drink," Allura gestured towards the small breakfast table set up in a patch of warm sunlight by the window. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "I'm not sure, but I think that Nanny wants to fatten me up."

Keith's lips twitched with amusement even as he nodded assent. "I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with her, Princess. You really do need to eat some more. You look as light as a feather — like a strong gust of wind could blow you away."

The loud sound of his stomach rumbling interrupted his words and brought a sheepish grin to his face. "But then again, who am I to talk? Nanny tells me that I should gain weight as well." He quirked a mischievous eyebrow at his wife before beginning to examine the selection of food that Nanny had sent up.

As usual, the Princess' former governess had overestimated their appetites. She had laid out so many chafing dishes and serving platters that Keith began to worry that the table might collapse under their weight.

Keith began to serve himself, placing a waffle, some butter and a few slices of bacon onto his plate while he idly wondered what the strange expression on his wife's face was. The strangled sound of frustration that she made gave him a clue.

The first thing he noticed as he turned around was the temper that lightened the color of Allura's eyes. "I have a name, you know. It's Allura, remember? My parents put a lot of thought into choosing it so I'd rather that you used it," she snapped out peevishly.

"Sorry, ALLURA," Keith said, inclining his head in apology as he placed special emphasis on her name. "I guess Princess just slipped out by force of habit. I'd only called you that for four years, you know."

"I know you think that I'm over-reacting," Allura replied, her voice turning serious, "but I really do mind being you calling me by my title. It seems so... formal. When we're alone like this, I don't want to be the Princess Royal of Arus or a Daughter of Cador. I'm just your wife, Allura Blackwell."

"Got it, sunshine." Keith agreed huskily, heartened by how easily and naturally which Allura identified herself as his wife. Not knowing what else to say, he reached out and ruffled her curls with an affectionate hand.

Wrinkling her nose with dismay, Allura laughed and batted his hand away. With her hair rumpled and her eyes sparkling with delight, she looked like an adorable urchin and with very little effort, Keith could picture how a daughter of theirs would look like.

The sudden pain on Allura's face sent him crashing back to reality. The pain in Allura's shoulder was normally a dull ache that she could ignore, but when she overextended herself, the ache turned into a sharp knifing pain.

Biting back the curse that sprang to his lips, Keith wiped away the sweat that beaded on Allura's face with a towel he found near the bed. Over the last few days, he had learned — much to his dismay — that at times like this, there was nothing he could do for Allura but offer what comfort he could.

"Don't push yourself," he scolded gently when the spasm was over, hating how pale and drained she looked. "You're not in tip-top condition, and no one expects you to be, considering everything that had happened to you."

"That's what everyone says," Allura grumbled as she closed her eyes and wearily slumped back against her pillows. "But people tell me bits and pieces and no one tells me why I'm here and how I got hurt."

"I'm not surprised," Keith muttered, feeling rage and guilt clog his throat once again. "I thought that the Intelligence guys over at Garrison Command kept their cards close to their chest, but I swear, Nanny and Coran could give them lessons."

"You know how overprotective they are... It drives me insane at times." Opening her eyes briefly, Allura managed a wan smile. "If you wouldn't mind though, I'd really like to hear that story... I want to know why I'm in this condition and how I got hurt so badly."

Taking hold of Allura's arm, Keith stroked it gently, his thumb lingering over the fiery red mark revealed by the sheer sleeves of her nightgown. "This marked you as the Phoenix, the one who would bring about the downfall of Haggar," he said huskily, forcing the words past the lump that had lodged in his throat.

Getting to his feet, he began to pace the room. "Our guess is that Haggar saw your birthmark on the video-feed of the press conference at Space Marshall Graham's reception and panicked. "

"We suspect that the witch had her own agenda," Keith continued grimly. "Your Aunt Orla thinks that Haggar exhausted her magic making ro-beasts for Zarkon and needed to find another source of power. You."

"By using you, she was able to hit two birds with one stone. She got the power she needed and she controlled the Phoenix, the only person in the entire universe she feared."

He thought about what he had said for a moment before correcting himself. "But it wouldn't be exactly accurate if I told you that she controlled you. If you want to be technical about it, Haggar possessed your body and became you."

Keith's smile was a humorless quirk of his lips. "Haggar and I fought. To stop her, I was forced to slay you... and ding, dong, the wicked witch was dead." He sighed heavily, "It was the most difficult thing I have ever done."

Finishing his narrative, Keith gazed down at Allura. He fully expected her to banish him from Arus now that she knew what he had done and he wanted to memorize her face so that he would have it forever in the empty years that lay ahead of him.

Allura stared down at the snowy white linens on her bed with unseeing eyes. Her heart leapt with an unsteady rhythm as a staccato collage of images inundated her. Each one of them a memory that she had forgotten...

... An obscenely beautiful opalescent shadow over the ruins of a village...The trembling of the air that heralded the arrival of the five lions...A pale pink dawn on a hilltop overlooking the castle...A black stallion galloping rider-less through a stone rain...The sound of Haggar's laughter as the witch taunted Keith...The sadness on Keith's face as he parried Haggar's attack with his sword...The gentleness with which he cradled her in his arms...The raspy sound of his whisper as he willed her to live.

She came back to herself with a shocked gasp and stared up at her husband with wide eyes. "Oh, Keith," she whispered, torn between tenderness and disbelief. "I'm so sorry... I wish you didn't have to go through what you did... that all this had never happened."

Tears trickled down her cheers unchecked and she bit her lip to stop it from quivering. "It wasn't your fault," she murmured, holding out a hand in invitation, wanting to sooth and comfort. "I know you didn't want to hurt me."

Keith's expression altered and for a moment, Allura thought he would take her hand but he stood still, resolutely keeping the distance between them. Her natural empathy came into play, filling her heart with compassion for the proud tortured man who was her husband.

Praying for wisdom, Allura chose her words carefully, painfully aware of how she was negotiating the most important settlement in her life. "I am grateful for what you did. It was difficult, but necessary. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am right now — at home, surrounded by people who mean most to me."

"You sound like Nanny," Keith murmured, shoving his hands into his pockets. "That's almost exactly what she told me. She said that what happened was destined to be and that we've done what we were meant to do."

Allura shifted into a more comfortable position. "I'm sorry," she apologized once again. "I know you always believe that you can control your own destiny, but sometimes, destiny drives a different hand. You must remember that Cadorians believe that our lives have been shaped by the gods."

"And I should go with the flow, right?" Keith asked. A wry smile erased the stark lines on his face and lightened his harsh expression as he sat on the edge of her bed with his hip grazing hers. "Your aunt told me that I would have to learn how to do that," he said, thinking back to the day he met Orla at Queen Juliana's grave."

"She was right about a lot of things, you know..." Unable to find the words to express how he felt, he shrugged helplessly, the simple gesture conveying the depth of his inner turmoil. "Before I met you, I was perfectly content with my life. I was a soldier, and a pretty damned good one. For better or worse, I did what I was trained to do and I made a difference, but in the process, I discovered what a bland place the world could be."

Keith gathered his courage before admitting huskily. "Arus changed my life, Allura. Being here... Being with you made me believe in fairy-tales and in happily-ever-afters. You gave me your home to me, Allura, but it wasn't a real one without you..."

"I thought that I had lost you," he muttered, his eyes bleak. "And I don't ever want to get that close to losing anything so precious to me again. From now on, I know I need to hold close everything that is dear to me so I'm going to hold you to your promise. Your eternal love and obedience, wasn't that the deal?"

"You've always had my love," Allura whispered. Her shaky laugh caused the tears simmering in her eyes to trickle down her cheeks. "But I think that we'll have to renegotiate the obedience clause. As you may have noticed, I'm not very good at it."

Happiness spread through Keith until it was so intense he began to ache from it. Unable to keep from touching his wife, he slid his hands down her arms. His long fingers slid over her palm and twined with hers, closing tightly.

Keith closed his eyes and swallowed, overwhelmed by the simple pleasure of holding his wife. He wanted to tell Allura how he felt, to explain to her that he had had never known that that there were feelings like this, but all he could manage to say was a simple "I love you."

The answering emotion that danced in Allura's eyes humbled him. Lowering his head, Keith reverently touched his lips to hers in a tender kiss tempered by protective concern. "You've got to get well soon, Princess Mine," he murmured when he at last managed to draw away. "It's time we made our home together. God knows we've waited long enough."


End file.
